First Trust Advisors LP Cuts Position in The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM)

First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its position in shares of The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM - Free Report) by 13.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 677,981 shares of the company's stock after selling 108,219 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.64% of J. M. Smucker worth $74,659,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of J. M. Smucker in the fourth quarter valued at $112,978,000. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 3,599.5% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 929,400 shares of the company's stock valued at $102,346,000 after acquiring an additional 904,278 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 87.8% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 925,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $101,861,000 after acquiring an additional 432,500 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,415,023 shares of the company's stock valued at $265,942,000 after acquiring an additional 418,878 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,734,305 shares of the company's stock valued at $411,222,000 after acquiring an additional 380,309 shares in the last quarter. 81.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SJM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced 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. Barclays dropped their target price on J. M. Smucker from $123.00 to $119.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group initiated coverage on J. M. Smucker in a report on Wednesday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $134.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen lowered J. M. Smucker from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $130.00 to $121.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their target price 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, J. M. Smucker presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $126.50.

J. M. Smucker Stock Performance

Shares of SJM stock traded down $0.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $115.16. 788,743 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,174,407. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $113.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $111.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.35. The J. M. Smucker Company has a 12-month low of $98.77 and a 12-month high of $125.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.58.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 analyst estimates of $2.23 billion. On average, analysts forecast that The J. M. Smucker Company will post 9.88 EPS for the current 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 $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. J. M. Smucker's payout ratio is currently -179.25%.

Insider Transactions at J. M. Smucker

In other news, insider Jill R. Penrose sold 5,117 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 8,794 shares in the company, valued at $1,022,390.44. This represents a 36.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 5,028 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.36, for a total value of $569,974.08. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 13,263 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,503,493.68. This trade represents a 27.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.40% 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.