Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Sells 7,599 Shares of The J. M. Smucker Company $SJM

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lowered its position in shares of The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) by 7.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 88,024 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,599 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in J. M. Smucker were worth $9,559,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in J. M. Smucker during the 2nd quarter worth $112,829,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new stake in shares of J. M. Smucker in the second quarter valued at about $109,896,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 811.0% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 919,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,818,000 after acquiring an additional 818,245 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 45.4% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,251,934 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,140,000 after acquiring an additional 703,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP increased its position in J. M. Smucker by 31.0% during the second quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 2,033,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $199,701,000 after acquiring an additional 481,660 shares during the period. 81.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SJM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of J. M. Smucker from $121.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on J. M. Smucker from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on J. M. Smucker from $113.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Barclays upped their target price on J. M. Smucker from $105.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised J. M. Smucker to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, J. M. Smucker presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.43.

J. M. Smucker Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of SJM stock opened at $111.30 on Friday. The J. M. Smucker Company has a fifty-two week low of $93.30 and a fifty-two week high of $121.48. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $105.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $11.87 billion, a PE ratio of -9.44, a P/E/G ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.22.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. J. M. Smucker had a positive return on equity of 15.94% and a negative net margin of 14.07%.J. M. Smucker’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.61 EPS. Equities analysts predict that The J. M. Smucker Company will post 9.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

J. M. Smucker Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th were given a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio is currently -37.32%.

About J. M. Smucker

The J. M. Smucker Company is a diversified food and beverage manufacturer and marketer known for a portfolio of well-established consumer brands. The company’s main business activities include the production and distribution of fruit spreads, peanut butter, coffee and coffee filters, as well as pet food and pet snacks. Smucker’s core product lines serve both retail and foodservice customers through grocery chains, mass merchandisers, club stores, convenience outlets and e-commerce channels.

Among its leading brands are Smucker’s® fruit spreads, Jif® peanut butter, Folgers® and Dunkin’® coffees, and Café Bustelo® coffee.