Engineers Gate Manager LP Purchases New Stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated $MKC

Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 947,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,522,000. McCormick & Company, Incorporated accounts for 0.8% of Engineers Gate Manager LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Engineers Gate Manager LP owned 0.35% of McCormick & Company, Incorporated as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MKC. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 60.9% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,659,766 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,047,000 after acquiring an additional 628,390 shares during the period. PGGM Investments raised its stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 746,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,851,000 after purchasing an additional 69,034 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 76.9% in the 3rd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 37,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,509,000 after purchasing an additional 16,300 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,679,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,225,828,000 after purchasing an additional 314,252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. bought a new position in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated in the third quarter worth $48,576,000. Institutional investors own 79.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on MKC shares. UBS Group decreased their price target on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $53.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $70.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $64.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded McCormick & Company, Incorporated from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.90.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Price Performance

MKC stock opened at $46.41 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $49.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.79. The company has a market capitalization of $12.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.61, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.65. McCormick & Company, Incorporated has a 52-week low of $44.82 and a 52-week high of $78.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.76.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.79 billion. McCormick & Company, Incorporated had a net margin of 23.12% and a return on equity of 13.29%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that McCormick & Company, Incorporated will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 20th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 20th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. McCormick & Company, Incorporated’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.48%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gavin Hattersley bought 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $52.98 per share, with a total value of $105,960.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $153,959.88. This trade represents a 220.75% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 10.60% of the company’s stock.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Profile

McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE: MKC) is a global leader in spices, seasonings and flavor solutions. Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, the company traces its origins to the late 19th century and has grown into a major manufacturer and marketer of branded and private‑label flavor products for consumer, industrial and foodservice markets.

McCormick’s product portfolio includes pure spices and herbs, blended seasonings, marinades, rubs, sauces, extracts and specialty flavorings, along with ingredient systems and custom flavor development for manufacturers and foodservice operators.