Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Reduces Holdings in 3M (NYSE:MMM)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. decreased its position in shares of 3M (NYSE:MMM) by 8.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 69,329 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 6,583 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in 3M were worth $7,354,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MMM. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of 3M in the 4th quarter valued at about $502,585,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 3M by 1,273.9% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,783,726 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $413,637,000 after acquiring an additional 3,508,334 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of 3M by 313.8% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,650,961 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $289,803,000 after purchasing an additional 2,010,319 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 3M by 157.2% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,805,496 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $197,377,000 after purchasing an additional 1,103,459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 3M by 8,766.0% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,080,940 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $118,168,000 after purchasing an additional 1,068,748 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on MMM. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of 3M from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Mizuho restated a “neutral” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of 3M in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of 3M in a report on Thursday, June 6th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. HSBC raised shares of 3M from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $91.13 to $115.00 in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of 3M from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $110.00 to $111.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, 3M currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.58.

3M Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MMM traded up $0.73 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $102.39. 7,866,227 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,350,000. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.17, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The company’s 50 day moving average is $98.13 and its 200 day moving average is $99.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.66 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.96. 3M has a one year low of $71.12 and a one year high of $106.04.

3M (NYSE:MMM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.10 by $0.29. 3M had a negative net margin of 21.57% and a positive return on equity of 95.80%. The firm had revenue of $8 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.97 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that 3M will post 7.09 EPS for the current year.

3M Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 23rd. 3M’s dividend payout ratio is -22.01%.

3M Profile

3M Company provides diversified technology services in the United States and internationally. The company's Safety and Industrial segment offers industrial abrasives and finishing for metalworking applications; autobody repair solutions; closure systems for personal hygiene products, masking, and packaging materials; electrical products and materials for construction and maintenance, power distribution, and electrical original equipment manufacturers; structural adhesives and tapes; respiratory, hearing, eye, and fall protection solutions; and natural and color-coated mineral granules for shingles.