3M (NYSE:MMM) Shares Sold by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lowered its stake in 3M (NYSE:MMM) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 115,790 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 3,799 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in 3M were worth $14,947,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MMM. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in 3M in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in 3M in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in 3M in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in 3M by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 237,297 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 19,552 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC raised its position in 3M by 44.1% in the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 320 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on MMM. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of 3M from $142.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $96.00 price target on shares of 3M in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of 3M in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded 3M from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on 3M from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $149.13.

3M Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:MMM opened at $151.16 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $82.06 billion, a PE ratio of 20.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $147.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $137.36. 3M has a fifty-two week low of $85.62 and a fifty-two week high of $156.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.86, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

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

3M Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.73 dividend. This is a boost from 3M’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. 3M’s payout ratio is presently 38.68%.

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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Theresa E. Reinseth sold 2,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.95, for a total value of $346,234.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $662,329.15. The trade was a 34.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 113,639 shares of company stock valued at $17,163,446. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About 3M

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.