3M (NYSE:MMM) Rating Increased to Overweight at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of 3M (NYSE:MMM - Free Report) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $170.00 target price on the conglomerate's stock, up from their prior target price of $140.00.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of 3M in a research report on Saturday. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of 3M from $142.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised shares of 3M from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $130.00 to $184.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of 3M from $105.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Melius Research raised shares of 3M from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $148.87.

3M Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE:MMM traded up $2.25 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $149.14. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,076,527 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,814,158. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.08. 3M has a one year low of $75.40 and a one year high of $152.08. The business's 50-day moving average is $131.73 and its 200-day moving average is $128.53. The company has a market cap of $81.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.95.

3M (NYSE:MMM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The conglomerate reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.02. 3M had a net margin of 15.37% and a return on equity of 104.66%. The company had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5,770,390 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.42 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 25.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that 3M will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

3M Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. 3M's payout ratio is 35.35%.

Institutional Trading of 3M

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of 3M by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,194,612 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $3,717,503,000 after purchasing an additional 302,900 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of 3M by 88.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,961,866 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,225,087,000 after purchasing an additional 4,212,409 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of 3M by 1.2% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,815,625 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $521,596,000 after purchasing an additional 43,942 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 3M by 18.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,531,422 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $258,686,000 after acquiring an additional 396,773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its stake in 3M by 14.5% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,268,003 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $173,336,000 after acquiring an additional 161,036 shares during the last quarter. 65.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About 3M

3M Company provides diversified technology services in the United States and internationally. The company's Safety and Industrial segment offers industrial abrasives and finishing for metalworking applications; autobody repair solutions; closure systems for personal hygiene products, masking, and packaging materials; electrical products and materials for construction and maintenance, power distribution, and electrical original equipment manufacturers; structural adhesives and tapes; respiratory, hearing, eye, and fall protection solutions; and natural and color-coated mineral granules for shingles.