The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) Declares $1.06 Quarterly Dividend

The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of 1.06 per share on Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th.

J. M. Smucker has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 26 years. J. M. Smucker has a dividend payout ratio of 39.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect J. M. Smucker to earn $10.19 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.6%.

J. M. Smucker Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SJM opened at $114.76 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $121.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $120.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -130.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.38. J. M. Smucker has a 12 month low of $107.33 and a 12 month high of $159.92.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $2.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. J. M. Smucker had a positive return on equity of 14.29% and a negative net margin of 1.24%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.21 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that J. M. Smucker will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at J. M. Smucker

In other J. M. Smucker news, insider Jeannette L. Knudsen sold 3,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.77, for a total value of $399,264.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,116,192.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of J. M. Smucker

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SJM. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of J. M. Smucker by 85,116.7% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,102,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,130,000 after buying an additional 2,099,830 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of J. M. Smucker during the 4th quarter worth $219,033,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of J. M. Smucker by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,471,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,702,515,000 after buying an additional 518,433 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of J. M. Smucker by 41.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 802,932 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,357,000 after buying an additional 236,908 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of J. M. Smucker by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,531,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $242,733,000 after buying an additional 197,519 shares during the last quarter. 81.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised J. M. Smucker from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $135.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. DA Davidson initiated coverage on J. M. Smucker in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $132.00 target price on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on J. M. Smucker from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on J. M. Smucker from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on J. M. Smucker from $153.00 to $152.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.47.

About J. M. Smucker

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.