The J. M. Smucker Company (SJM) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.08 on March 3rd

The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 24th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of 1.08 per share on Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th.

J. M. Smucker has raised its dividend by an average of 4.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 22 years. J. M. Smucker has a dividend payout ratio of 38.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect J. M. Smucker to earn $10.49 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.2%.

J. M. Smucker Stock Up 1.3 %

SJM opened at $104.38 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.11 billion, a PE ratio of 21.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.27. The business has a 50-day moving average of $108.02 and a 200-day moving average of $114.25. J. M. Smucker has a fifty-two week low of $99.81 and a fifty-two week high of $130.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The company reported $2.76 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.59 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that J. M. Smucker will post 9.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at J. M. Smucker

In other news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 994 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owns 18,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,116,942. This represents a 5.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.