3M (NYSE:MMM) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.73

3M (NYSE:MMM) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 4th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.73 per share by the conglomerate on Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. This is a boost from 3M’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70.

3M has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 15.2% annually over the last three years. 3M has a dividend payout ratio of 32.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect 3M to earn $8.33 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 33.6%.

3M Price Performance

MMM traded up $1.69 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $151.73. The company had a trading volume of 3,109,158 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,540,231. 3M has a twelve month low of $75.40 and a twelve month high of $155.00. The company has a market capitalization of $82.62 billion, a PE ratio of 20.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.41. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $135.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $131.59.

3M (NYSE:MMM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The conglomerate reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.02. 3M had a net margin of 15.71% and a return on equity of 100.77%. The business had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.42 earnings per share. 3M’s revenue for the quarter was down 25.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that 3M will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MMM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America raised their price target on 3M from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of 3M from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $140.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Melius raised shares of 3M from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group raised shares of 3M from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $130.00 to $184.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of 3M from $161.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $148.87.

Insider Activity at 3M

In other 3M news, insider Christian T. Goralski, Jr. sold 6,318 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.43, for a total transaction of $944,098.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $750,736.32. This represents a 55.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Theresa E. Reinseth sold 2,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.95, for a total transaction of $346,234.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $662,329.15. This represents a 34.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 113,639 shares of company stock worth $17,163,446. 0.38% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

3M Company Profile

3M Company provides diversified technology services in the United States and internationally. The company’s Safety and Industrial segment offers industrial abrasives and finishing for metalworking applications; autobody repair solutions; closure systems for personal hygiene products, masking, and packaging materials; electrical products and materials for construction and maintenance, power distribution, and electrical original equipment manufacturers; structural adhesives and tapes; respiratory, hearing, eye, and fall protection solutions; and natural and color-coated mineral granules for shingles.