The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) Shares Sold by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) by 33.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 689 shares of the company’s stock after selling 343 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in J. M. Smucker were worth $76,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SJM. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of J. M. Smucker by 40.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,353,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $406,169,000 after buying an additional 958,142 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of J. M. Smucker by 12.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,111,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $861,145,000 after buying an additional 762,746 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of J. M. Smucker by 891.3% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 579,903 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,226,000 after buying an additional 521,404 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of J. M. Smucker by 4,996.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 207,202 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,092,000 after buying an additional 203,136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of J. M. Smucker by 16.5% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at J. M. Smucker

In other news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 994 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total transaction of $112,322.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,116,942. The trade was a 5.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

J. M. Smucker Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of SJM stock opened at $110.02 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $11.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The J. M. Smucker Company has a fifty-two week low of $98.77 and a fifty-two week high of $127.59. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $106.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $113.39.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The company reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $2.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.27 billion. J. M. Smucker had a net margin of 5.96% and a return on equity of 14.35%. J. M. Smucker’s revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.59 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.93%. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 87.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen downgraded shares of J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $130.00 to $121.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of J. M. Smucker from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $126.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $126.78.

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.