3M (NYSE:MMM) Shares Purchased by National Pension Service

National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of 3M (NYSE:MMM) by 14.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,268,003 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 161,036 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in 3M were worth $173,336,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MMM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 3M by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,461,361 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $5,246,367,000 after acquiring an additional 377,703 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in 3M by 11.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,065,242 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $517,617,000 after acquiring an additional 533,520 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in 3M by 2.0% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,952,878 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $506,135,000 after acquiring an additional 97,340 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 3M by 18.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,531,422 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $258,686,000 after buying an additional 396,773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of 3M by 1.8% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,006,221 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $212,800,000 after buying an additional 36,310 shares during the last quarter. 65.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at 3M

In other news, Chairman Michael F. Roman sold 5,675 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.46, for a total value of $700,635.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 174,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,486,484.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MMM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of 3M from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of 3M from $100.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of 3M from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Argus upgraded shares of 3M from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of 3M from $105.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, 3M has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $139.27.

3M Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MMM opened at $125.85 on Tuesday. 3M has a 1 year low of $75.40 and a 1 year high of $141.34. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $132.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $115.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company has a market cap of $68.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.89, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.95.

3M (NYSE:MMM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.05. 3M had a return on equity of 104.66% and a net margin of 15.37%. The firm had revenue of $6.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that 3M will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

3M Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Monday, August 26th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 26th. 3M’s payout ratio is currently 35.35%.

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.