Verition Fund Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM)

Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM - Free Report) by 35.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 176,348 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 46,433 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC owned 0.17% of J. M. Smucker worth $21,356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of SJM. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in J. M. Smucker by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 145,306 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,291,000 after acquiring an additional 1,239 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in J. M. Smucker during the 1st quarter valued at about $14,076,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in J. M. Smucker by 62.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 24,174 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,043,000 after acquiring an additional 9,250 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its stake in J. M. Smucker by 21.1% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 11,906 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,499,000 after acquiring an additional 2,077 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its stake in J. M. Smucker by 25.7% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 56,816 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,151,000 after acquiring an additional 11,622 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.66% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SJM. BNP Paribas raised shares of J. M. Smucker to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of J. M. Smucker from $121.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of J. M. Smucker from $135.00 to $132.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of J. M. Smucker from $138.00 to $136.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of J. M. Smucker from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $125.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, J. M. Smucker currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $128.00.

J. M. Smucker Trading Down 0.2 %

J. M. Smucker stock traded down $0.21 during trading on Friday, hitting $117.79. The company had a trading volume of 1,000,903 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,380,053. The J. M. Smucker Company has a 1-year low of $105.69 and a 1-year high of $134.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $116.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $115.63. The stock has a market cap of $12.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.25.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The company reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.49 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $2.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.27 billion. J. M. Smucker had a net margin of 5.96% and a return on equity of 14.35%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.59 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that The J. M. Smucker Company will post 9.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

J. M. Smucker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. J. M. Smucker's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 87.45%.

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.