Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Makes New Investment in The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 3,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,111,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $861,145,000 after acquiring an additional 762,746 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 40.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,353,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $406,169,000 after acquiring an additional 958,142 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,361,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,082,000 after acquiring an additional 192,748 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,003,042 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,455,000 after acquiring an additional 12,410 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 977,817 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,677,000 after acquiring an additional 118,240 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.66% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 994 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $112,322.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,116,942. This represents a 5.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen lowered shares of J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $130.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of J. M. Smucker from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of J. M. Smucker from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of J. M. Smucker from $123.00 to $119.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $126.13.

J. M. Smucker Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SJM opened at $117.07 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.46 billion, a PE ratio of 23.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.28. The J. M. Smucker Company has a twelve month low of $98.77 and a twelve month high of $127.59. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $106.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $112.79.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.23 billion. J. M. Smucker had a net margin of 5.96% and a return on equity of 14.35%. Equities analysts forecast that The J. M. Smucker Company will post 9.88 EPS for the current year.

J. M. Smucker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.69%. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio is presently -179.25%.

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.