Claro Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 1,896 3M (NYSE:MMM)

Claro Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of 3M (NYSE:MMM) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,896 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of 3M by 419.1% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 244 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of 3M during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in shares of 3M during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. CGC Financial Services LLC grew its stake in shares of 3M by 89.9% during the 4th quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 338 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the period. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. grew its stake in shares of 3M by 42.8% during the 4th quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 387 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. 65.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MMM shares. Vertical Research upgraded 3M from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $92.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Wolfe Research upgraded 3M from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Barclays upped their price target on 3M from $112.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on 3M from $78.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded 3M from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $110.00 to $111.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $111.58.

3M Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of MMM opened at $101.62 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.95. 3M has a 1 year low of $71.12 and a 1 year high of $106.04. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $99.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.17, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

3M (NYSE:MMM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.10 by $0.29. 3M had a positive return on equity of 95.80% and a negative net margin of 21.57%. The company had revenue of $8 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.97 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that 3M will post 7.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

3M Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 24th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. 3M’s payout ratio is presently -22.01%.

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.