3M (NYSE:MMM) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

3M (NYSE:MMM) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and twelve have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $147.47.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on 3M from $175.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $96.00 price objective on shares of 3M in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of 3M from $165.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of 3M from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $140.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of 3M in a research note on Tuesday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 3M news, EVP Victoria Clarke sold 1,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.22, for a total value of $269,885.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 194 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,918.68. The trade was a 90.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Christian T. Goralski, Jr. sold 6,318 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.43, for a total value of $944,098.74. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $750,736.32. This represents a 55.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 113,639 shares of company stock valued at $17,163,446 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of 3M

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in 3M during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of 3M during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in 3M by 88.7% during the 4th quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 200 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. acquired a new stake in 3M in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new position in 3M in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. 65.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

3M Stock Performance

NYSE:MMM opened at $127.14 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $147.62 and a 200-day moving average of $138.41. The firm has a market cap of $68.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.86. 3M has a twelve month low of $90.17 and a twelve month high of $156.35.

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

3M Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.73 per share. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from 3M’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. 3M’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.68%.

3M Company 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.