Columbia Asset Management Makes New $227,000 Investment in The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM)

Columbia Asset Management acquired a new stake in The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its stake in J. M. Smucker by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its position in shares of J. M. Smucker by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 2,731 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of J. M. Smucker by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,845 shares of the company’s stock worth $203,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the period. Mendel Money Management lifted its position in J. M. Smucker by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 3,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Code Waechter LLC lifted its position in J. M. Smucker by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 5,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $553,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.66% of the company’s stock.

J. M. Smucker Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of J. M. Smucker stock opened at $118.41 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $108.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.15. The J. M. Smucker Company has a fifty-two week low of $98.77 and a fifty-two week high of $125.42. The firm has a market cap of $12.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.24. J. M. Smucker had a net margin of 5.96% and a return on equity of 14.35%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.23 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that The J. M. Smucker Company will post 9.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

J. M. Smucker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $1.08 per share. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. J. M. Smucker’s payout ratio is -179.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 5,028 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.36, for a total transaction of $569,974.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jill R. Penrose sold 5,117 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.26, for a total value of $594,902.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,022,390.44. This trade represents a 36.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on SJM. TD Cowen lowered shares of J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $130.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays lowered their target price on J. M. Smucker from $123.00 to $119.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley started coverage on J. M. Smucker in a research note on Monday, March 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $123.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on J. M. Smucker from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of J. M. Smucker from $122.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $125.67.

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.