Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Buys 122,434 Shares of 3M (NYSE:MMM)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 3M (NYSE:MMM - Free Report) by 107.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 236,551 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 122,434 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC's holdings in 3M were worth $30,536,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 3M by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,574,414 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,493,655,000 after purchasing an additional 280,048 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in 3M by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,689,486 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $734,456,000 after buying an additional 479,621 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in 3M during the fourth quarter valued at about $636,767,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in 3M by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,577,045 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $461,761,000 after acquiring an additional 17,228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of 3M by 26.6% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,540,883 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $328,003,000 after acquiring an additional 533,753 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.25% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MMM. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "underperform" rating and set a $96.00 price objective on shares of 3M in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of 3M in a report on Saturday, March 22nd. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of 3M from $175.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of 3M from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $140.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of 3M from $142.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $149.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Michael F. Roman sold 45,276 shares of 3M stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.01, for a total transaction of $6,791,852.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 175,718 shares in the company, valued at $26,359,457.18. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Christian T. Goralski, Jr. sold 6,318 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.43, for a total transaction of $944,098.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,024 shares in the company, valued at $750,736.32. This represents a 55.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 113,639 shares of company stock valued at $17,163,446. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

3M Price Performance

3M stock traded down $13.12 on Friday, reaching $126.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,608,022 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,099,389. 3M has a twelve month low of $90.17 and a twelve month high of $156.35. The company has a market cap of $68.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.77, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.41. The business's fifty day moving average price is $149.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $138.58.

3M (NYSE:MMM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The conglomerate reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.02. 3M had a net margin of 15.71% and a return on equity of 100.77%. The firm had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.42 EPS. The company's revenue was down 25.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that 3M will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

3M Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.73 dividend. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from 3M's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. 3M's payout ratio is 38.68%.

3M Company 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.