Analysts Set The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) Price Target at $137.20

The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $137.20.

SJM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on J. M. Smucker in a research report on Tuesday, December 12th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $140.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com upgraded J. M. Smucker from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Citigroup reduced their price objective on J. M. Smucker from $153.00 to $152.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded J. M. Smucker from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $135.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on J. M. Smucker from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th.

Insider Activity at J. M. Smucker

In related news, insider Jeannette L. Knudsen sold 3,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.77, for a total transaction of $399,264.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,116,192.42. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SJM. Fairfield Bush & CO. lifted its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 30,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,137,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 14,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,963,000 after purchasing an additional 898 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 339,555 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,980,000 after purchasing an additional 5,531 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 1,012.2% in the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 192,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,085,000 after purchasing an additional 175,315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,721,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,722,666,000 after purchasing an additional 162,944 shares in the last quarter. 81.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

J. M. Smucker Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of J. M. Smucker stock opened at $115.94 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.78. J. M. Smucker has a 52-week low of $107.33 and a 52-week high of $159.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -131.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.21. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $124.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $121.42.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $2.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.22 billion. J. M. Smucker had a negative net margin of 1.24% and a positive return on equity of 14.29%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.21 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that J. M. Smucker will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

J. M. Smucker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a dividend of $1.06 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio is currently -481.81%.

About J. M. Smucker

The J. M. Smucker Company manufactures and markets branded food and beverage products worldwide. It operates in three segments: U.S. Retail Pet Foods, U.S. Retail Coffee, and U.S. Retail Consumer Foods. The company offers mainstream roast, ground, single serve, and premium coffee; peanut butter and specialty spreads; fruit spreads, toppings, and syrups; jelly products; nut mix products; shortening and oils; frozen sandwiches and snacks; pet food and pet snacks; and foodservice hot beverage, foodservice portion control, and flour products, as well as dog and cat food, frozen handheld products, juices and beverages, and baking mixes and ingredients.