Mather Group LLC. Purchases 200 Shares of The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM)

Mather Group LLC. grew its holdings in The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,583 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 200 shares during the quarter. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in J. M. Smucker were worth $282,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SJM. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in shares of J. M. Smucker by 298.4% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 20,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,562,000 after acquiring an additional 15,182 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of J. M. Smucker by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 170,552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,554,000 after buying an additional 8,960 shares during the last quarter. Ardevora Asset Management LLP bought a new stake in shares of J. M. Smucker in the 4th quarter valued at about $11,147,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in J. M. Smucker by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,471,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,702,515,000 after acquiring an additional 518,433 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB purchased a new position in J. M. Smucker in the first quarter worth $23,990,000. 81.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

J. M. Smucker Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SJM traded up $2.03 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $120.94. 136,169 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,245,276. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The J. M. Smucker Company has a fifty-two week low of $105.69 and a fifty-two week high of $149.70. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $113.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $118.02. The firm has a market cap of $12.84 billion, a PE ratio of 16.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.25.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 6th. The company reported $2.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. J. M. Smucker had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 9.10%. The business’s revenue was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.64 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that The J. M. Smucker Company will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

J. M. Smucker Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.57%. This is a boost from J. M. Smucker’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.06. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.55%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SJM has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on J. M. Smucker from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 7th. Citigroup boosted their price target on J. M. Smucker from $137.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Argus dropped their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $150.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of J. M. Smucker from $132.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered J. M. Smucker from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.64.

Insider Buying and Selling at J. M. Smucker

In other news, CEO Mark T. Smucker sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.16, for a total transaction of $1,101,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 78,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,675,871.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by 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.