McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $86.16 and last traded at $85.53, with a volume of 1006259 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $82.62.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MKC. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $91.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $86.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.75.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market cap of $22.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $77.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.77.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. McCormick & Company, Incorporated had a return on equity of 14.89% and a net margin of 11.73%. On average, equities analysts expect that McCormick & Company, Incorporated will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Margaret M. V. Preston sold 28,092 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.03, for a total transaction of $2,163,926.76. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,177 shares in the company, valued at $475,814.31. The trade was a 81.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 23.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of McCormick & Company, Incorporated

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MKC. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated during the fourth quarter valued at $223,202,000. Select Equity Group L.P. acquired a new stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated in the fourth quarter valued at $104,863,000. State Street Corp raised its position in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,315,905 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,260,499,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114,706 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 47.5% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,843,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $216,771,000 after buying an additional 915,807 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 58.2% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,544,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,115,000 after buying an additional 568,276 shares during the period. 79.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About McCormick & Company, Incorporated

McCormick & Co, Inc engages in the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of spices, seasoning mixes, condiments, and other flavorful products to retail outlets, food manufacturers, and foodservice businesses. It operates through the Consumer and Flavor Solutions segments. The Consumer segment sells spices, seasonings, condiments, and sauces.