J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $123.00 price objective on the stock.

SJM has been the topic of a number of other reports. TD Cowen downgraded shares of J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $130.00 to $121.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $122.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com cut J. M. Smucker from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on J. M. Smucker from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, J. M. Smucker presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $125.67.

J. M. Smucker Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:SJM opened at $111.76 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.89 billion, a PE ratio of 22.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.28. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $107.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $112.29. 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 one year low of $98.77 and a one year high of $127.15.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.23 billion. J. M. Smucker had a return on equity of 14.35% and a net margin of 5.96%. On average, equities 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.08 per share. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. J. M. Smucker’s payout ratio is -179.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 5,028 shares of J. M. Smucker stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,503,493.68. The trade was a 27.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On J. M. Smucker

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. 111 Capital acquired a new stake in shares of J. M. Smucker during the 4th quarter worth $1,145,000. Probity Advisors Inc. grew its stake in J. M. Smucker by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 9,143 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,007,000 after buying an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH bought a new position in J. M. Smucker in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,605,000. Menard Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of J. M. Smucker in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of J. M. Smucker during the 4th quarter worth approximately $12,466,000. Institutional investors own 81.66% of the company’s stock.

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.