Schroder Investment Management Group Boosts Stock Holdings in The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM)

Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position in The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) by 42.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,509 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,505 shares during the quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group’s holdings in J. M. Smucker were worth $2,034,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SJM. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in J. M. Smucker by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 324,381 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,721,000 after purchasing an additional 11,339 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,361,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,082,000 after buying an additional 192,748 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of J. M. Smucker in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,273,000. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of J. M. Smucker by 336.3% during the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 12,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,426,000 after acquiring an additional 9,982 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 271,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,875,000 after acquiring an additional 16,963 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 5,028 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 13,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jill R. Penrose sold 5,117 shares of J. M. Smucker stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.26, for a total transaction of $594,902.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,022,390.44. The trade was a 36.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on SJM shares. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on J. M. Smucker from $122.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays reduced their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of J. M. Smucker in a research report on Monday, March 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $123.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of J. M. Smucker from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $125.67.

J. M. Smucker Trading Down 2.8 %

NYSE:SJM opened at $115.03 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $12.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.35. The J. M. Smucker Company has a 1 year low of $98.77 and a 1 year high of $125.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $109.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $112.09. 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 (NYSE:SJM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.23 billion. J. M. Smucker had a return on equity of 14.35% and a net margin of 5.96%. As a group, analysts expect that The J. M. Smucker Company will post 9.88 EPS for the current year.

J. M. Smucker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio is presently -179.25%.

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.