Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC)

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. trimmed its position in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) by 26.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,542 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,258 shares during the quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in McCormick & Company, Incorporated were worth $292,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 87.5% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated in the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. 79.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MKC shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. BNP Paribas upgraded McCormick & Company, Incorporated to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.57.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MKC opened at $78.37 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.71. McCormick & Company, Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $63.88 and a fifty-two week high of $85.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.03 billion, a PE ratio of 26.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.75. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.37.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. McCormick & Company, Incorporated had a return on equity of 15.30% and a net margin of 11.87%. The firm’s revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that McCormick & Company, Incorporated will post 2.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a positive change from McCormick & Company, Incorporated’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 30th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. McCormick & Company, Incorporated’s payout ratio is 57.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other McCormick & Company, Incorporated news, Director Jacques Tapiero sold 5,000 shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total transaction of $386,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 28,217 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,182,302.78. The trade was a 15.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 20,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,565,850 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 22.90% of the company’s stock.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Profile

McCormick & Company, Incorporated manufactures, markets, and distributes spices, seasoning mixes, condiments, and other flavorful products to the food industry. It operates in two segments, Consumer and Flavor Solutions. The Consumer segment offers spices, herbs, and seasonings, as well as condiments and sauces, and desserts.