State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Decreases Holdings in The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lowered its stake in The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 412 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in J. M. Smucker were worth $4,662,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in J. M. Smucker by 6,703.1% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 159,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,433,000 after purchasing an additional 157,523 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in J. M. Smucker by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 24,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,043,000 after buying an additional 9,250 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its stake in J. M. Smucker by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 127,618 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,915,000 after buying an additional 15,792 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 25.7% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 56,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,151,000 after buying an additional 11,622 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its position in J. M. Smucker by 553.9% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 8,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,117,000 after buying an additional 7,517 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas raised J. M. Smucker to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup cut their price target on J. M. Smucker from $138.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $123.00 to $121.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of J. M. Smucker from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $126.42.

J. M. Smucker Stock Performance

Shares of J. M. Smucker stock opened at $111.95 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.91 billion, a PE ratio of 15.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The J. M. Smucker Company has a 52 week low of $105.69 and a 52 week high of $134.62. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $117.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $115.68.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.17 by $0.27. J. M. Smucker had a net margin of 8.77% and a return on equity of 14.22%. The firm had revenue of $2.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.21 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that The J. M. Smucker Company will post 9.8 earnings per share for the current year.

J. M. Smucker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.86%. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.10%.

About J. M. Smucker

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.