Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires Shares of 55,696 The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 55,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,142,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned 0.05% of J. M. Smucker at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its stake in J. M. Smucker by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 660 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 2,731 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,845 shares of the company’s stock worth $203,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the period. Mendel Money Management increased its position in J. M. Smucker by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 3,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $433,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Code Waechter LLC raised its stake in J. M. Smucker by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 5,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $553,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. 81.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on SJM. DA Davidson lowered their target price on J. M. Smucker from $122.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of J. M. Smucker in a research report on Monday, March 24th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $123.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective 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. TD Cowen downgraded shares of J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $130.00 to $121.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of J. M. Smucker from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, J. M. Smucker presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $125.67.

Insider Activity at J. M. Smucker

In other news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 5,028 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.36, for a total value of $569,974.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 13,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,503,493.68. The trade was a 27.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jill R. Penrose sold 5,117 shares of J. M. Smucker stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.26, for a total transaction of $594,902.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,022,390.44. The trade was a 36.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

J. M. Smucker Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SJM opened at $113.20 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $109.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $112.04. The J. M. Smucker Company has a 12 month low of $98.77 and a 12 month high of $125.42.

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

J. M. Smucker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid 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 dividend yield of 3.82%. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -179.25%.

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.