Bank of America Corp DE Grows Holdings in 3M (NYSE:MMM)

Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of 3M (NYSE:MMM) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,270,238 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 172,815 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE’s holdings in 3M were worth $551,245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in 3M during the fourth quarter valued at about $851,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 3M by 26.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 845,401 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $114,770,000 after buying an additional 178,450 shares in the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. lifted its position in 3M by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 197,618 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,511,000 after buying an additional 2,678 shares during the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in 3M in the fourth quarter worth approximately $816,000. Finally, Braun Stacey Associates Inc. grew its position in 3M by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. now owns 142,596 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $18,408,000 after acquiring an additional 22,203 shares during the last quarter. 65.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MMM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of 3M from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on 3M from $152.00 to $142.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America boosted their target price on 3M from $175.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of 3M in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on 3M from $165.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.00.

3M Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MMM opened at $140.78 on Tuesday. 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 has a 1 year low of $95.01 and a 1 year high of $156.35. The company’s 50-day moving average is $142.20 and its 200 day moving average is $138.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.01.

3M (NYSE:MMM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.11. 3M had a return on equity of 100.77% and a net margin of 15.71%. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.78 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that 3M will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

3M Profile

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.