The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) Stake Lifted by Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM - Free Report) by 10.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 217,253 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 20,837 shares during the quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC owned about 0.20% of J. M. Smucker worth $23,924,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 3.6% in the fourth 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. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 88.9% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,465 shares of the company's stock worth $1,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,395 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 285.4% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 25,304 shares of the company's stock worth $2,786,000 after purchasing an additional 18,739 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 26.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,302 shares of the company's stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 30.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 15,253 shares of the company's stock worth $1,680,000 after purchasing an additional 3,550 shares in the last quarter. 81.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on SJM shares. Morgan Stanley started coverage on J. M. Smucker in a research note on Monday, March 24th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $123.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on J. M. Smucker from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. DA Davidson decreased their price target 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. UBS Group started coverage on J. M. Smucker in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $134.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on J. M. Smucker from $123.00 to $119.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $125.70.

J. M. Smucker Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of SJM stock opened at $114.94 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $114.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $111.29. The J. M. Smucker Company has a fifty-two week low of $98.77 and a fifty-two week high of $125.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. J. M. Smucker had a return on equity of 14.35% and a net margin of 5.96%. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.23 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The J. M. Smucker Company will post 9.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

J. M. Smucker Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.08 per share. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. J. M. Smucker's dividend payout ratio is -179.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 5,028 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 13,263 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,503,493.68. This represents a 27.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jill R. Penrose sold 5,117 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.26, for a total value of $594,902.42. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,794 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,022,390.44. This represents a 36.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

J. M. Smucker 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.

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