The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $127.25.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SJM. Bank of America cut their price objective on J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. BNP Paribas raised shares of J. M. Smucker to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of J. M. Smucker from $138.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays lowered their target price on J. M. Smucker from $123.00 to $121.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on J. M. Smucker from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On J. M. Smucker

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of SJM. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of J. M. Smucker by 298.4% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 20,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,562,000 after purchasing an additional 15,182 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 170,552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,554,000 after acquiring an additional 8,960 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in J. M. Smucker by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,471,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,702,515,000 after acquiring an additional 518,433 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB bought a new stake in J. M. Smucker in the 1st quarter valued at about $23,990,000. Finally, Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA boosted its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 431.4% in the 4th quarter. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA now owns 9,433 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,192,000 after purchasing an additional 7,658 shares during the period. 81.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

J. M. Smucker Price Performance

Shares of SJM opened at $121.15 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market cap of $12.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.24. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $118.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $116.11. J. M. Smucker has a 1 year low of $105.69 and a 1 year high of $134.62.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.17 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $2.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. J. M. Smucker had a net margin of 8.77% and a return on equity of 14.22%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.21 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that J. M. Smucker will post 9.82 earnings per share for the current year.

J. M. Smucker Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.57%. This is a boost from J. M. Smucker’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.06. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.67%.

J. M. Smucker Company Profile

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.