Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Decreases Position in 3M (NYSE:MMM)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC decreased its stake in 3M (NYSE:MMM - Free Report) by 22.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,806 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 4,271 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC's holdings in 3M were worth $2,024,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MMM. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in 3M by 40.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 18,217 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $2,490,000 after buying an additional 5,210 shares during the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC grew its position in 3M by 5.6% in the third quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 252,847 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $34,564,000 after acquiring an additional 13,473 shares in the last quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lifted its position in 3M by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 3,991 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $408,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. raised its stake in shares of 3M by 19.2% in the second quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 38,469 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $3,931,000 after purchasing an additional 6,185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, True Vision MN LLC bought a new stake in 3M during the second quarter worth about $512,000. Institutional investors own 65.25% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of 3M from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of 3M from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on 3M from $100.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Mizuho upped their price target 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, UBS Group upgraded 3M from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $130.00 to $184.00 in a report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $144.87.

3M Price Performance

MMM stock traded up $1.10 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $131.45. The company had a trading volume of 2,660,570 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,868,936. The company has a market cap of $71.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.95. 3M has a fifty-two week low of $75.40 and a fifty-two week high of $141.34. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $132.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $117.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41.

3M (NYSE:MMM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.05. 3M had a return on equity of 104.66% and a net margin of 15.37%. The company had revenue of $6.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.68 earnings per share. 3M's revenue for the quarter was down 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that 3M will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

3M Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. 3M's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.35%.

3M Profile

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.