The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $1.08

The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 17th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of 1.08 per share on Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%.

J. M. Smucker has increased its dividend by an average of 4.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 27 consecutive years. J. M. Smucker has a dividend payout ratio of 39.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect J. M. Smucker to earn $10.42 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.5%.

J. M. Smucker Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of J. M. Smucker stock opened at $116.39 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $111.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $111.83. The company has a market capitalization of $12.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.35. 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 1 year low of $98.77 and a 1 year high of $125.42.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.23 billion. J. M. Smucker had a net margin of 5.96% and a return on equity of 14.35%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that J. M. Smucker will post 9.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen lowered shares of J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $130.00 to $121.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com upgraded J. M. Smucker from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on J. M. Smucker from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of J. M. Smucker in a research note on Monday, March 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $123.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their target price on shares of 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $125.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other J. M. Smucker news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 5,028 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.36, for a total transaction of $569,974.08. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jill R. Penrose sold 5,117 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,794 shares in the company, valued at $1,022,390.44. This represents a 36.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.