StockNews.com Downgrades J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) to Sell

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

SJM has been the topic of several other research reports. DA Davidson cut their price target on J. M. Smucker from $122.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. TD Cowen cut J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $130.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays lowered their price objective on 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. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on J. M. Smucker from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $126.00.

J. M. Smucker Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SJM opened at $109.78 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $107.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $112.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.27. J. M. Smucker has a 1-year low of $98.77 and a 1-year high of $127.15. The company has a market cap of $11.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.28.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.24. J. M. Smucker had a return on equity of 14.35% and a net margin of 5.96%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.23 billion. Analysts forecast that J. M. Smucker will post 9.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

J. M. Smucker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.94%. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -179.25%.

Insider Activity at J. M. Smucker

In related news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 5,028 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.36, for a total value of $569,974.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,503,493.68. This represents a 27.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of J. M. Smucker

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in J. M. Smucker by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 324,381 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,721,000 after acquiring an additional 11,339 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its position in J. M. Smucker by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 4,846 shares of the company’s stock worth $587,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in J. M. Smucker by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,361,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,082,000 after acquiring an additional 192,748 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in J. M. Smucker during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,273,000. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC lifted its position in J. M. Smucker by 336.3% during the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 12,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,426,000 after acquiring an additional 9,982 shares during the period. 81.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.