J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) Lowered to “Sell” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Thursday.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on SJM. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on J. M. Smucker from $122.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. TD Cowen downgraded J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $130.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of J. M. Smucker from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $126.00.

J. M. Smucker Price Performance

J. M. Smucker stock opened at $109.27 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $106.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.12, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. J. M. Smucker has a 52-week low of $98.77 and a 52-week high of $127.15.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.24. J. M. Smucker had a net margin of 5.96% and a return on equity of 14.35%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.23 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that J. M. Smucker will post 9.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

J. M. Smucker Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.95%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -179.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other J. M. Smucker news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 5,028 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.36, for a total transaction of $569,974.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,263 shares in the company, valued at $1,503,493.68. This represents a 27.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On J. M. Smucker

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SJM. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Utah Retirement Systems boosted its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 17,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,888,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Wallace Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of J. M. Smucker by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Wallace Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont increased its stake in J. M. Smucker by 4.1% during the 4th 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. Finally, Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,845 shares of the company’s stock worth $203,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. 81.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.