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

The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $128.56.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup dropped their target price on 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. Stifel Nicolaus lowered J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $135.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays dropped their target price on J. M. Smucker from $126.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. BNP Paribas upgraded J. M. Smucker to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on J. M. Smucker from $135.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,111,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $861,145,000 after buying an additional 762,746 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 40.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,353,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $406,169,000 after buying an additional 958,142 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,783,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,435,000 after buying an additional 135,158 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 14.4% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,526,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,403,000 after buying an additional 192,075 shares during the period. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 56.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 1,354,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,749,000 after buying an additional 486,624 shares during the period. 81.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

J. M. Smucker Price Performance

Shares of SJM stock opened at $113.52 on Friday. J. M. Smucker has a fifty-two week low of $105.69 and a fifty-two week high of $134.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.98, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.58. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $115.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $115.82.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The company reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.25. J. M. Smucker had a return on equity of 14.35% and a net margin of 5.96%. The business had revenue of $2.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.59 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that J. M. Smucker will post 9.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

J. M. Smucker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. J. M. Smucker’s payout ratio is 87.45%.

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.