Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 300 Shares of The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lowered its position in The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,700 shares of the company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in J. M. Smucker were worth $628,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in SJM. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in shares of J. M. Smucker by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 11,110 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,345,000 after buying an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 259,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,413,000 after purchasing an additional 18,767 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN increased its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 2,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 15,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,925,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.66% of the company’s stock.

J. M. Smucker Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:SJM opened at $100.40 on Wednesday. The J. M. Smucker Company has a 52-week low of $98.77 and a 52-week high of $127.59. The company has a market capitalization of $10.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $106.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $113.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.58.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The company reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.25. J. M. Smucker had a net margin of 5.96% and a return on equity of 14.35%. The business had revenue of $2.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.27 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.59 EPS. J. M. Smucker’s revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that The J. M. Smucker Company will post 9.88 earnings per share for the current year.

J. M. Smucker Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.30%. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 87.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SJM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on J. M. Smucker from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of J. M. Smucker from $126.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded shares of J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $130.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $126.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other J. M. Smucker news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 994 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total transaction of $112,322.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,734 shares in the company, valued at $2,116,942. This trade represents a 5.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

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.