Analysts Set 3M (NYSE:MMM) Target Price at $125.92

Shares of 3M (NYSE:MMM – Get Rating) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the sixteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $125.92.

MMM has been the subject of several research reports. Mizuho lowered their target price on 3M from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on 3M in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on 3M from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. UBS Group lowered their target price on 3M from $124.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on 3M from $117.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 9th.

3M Trading Down 1.1 %

MMM stock opened at $103.02 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $114.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $118.65. 3M has a fifty-two week low of $100.27 and a fifty-two week high of $154.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

3M (NYSE:MMM – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The conglomerate reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.09 billion. 3M had a net margin of 16.88% and a return on equity of 39.72%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.31 earnings per share. Analysts expect that 3M will post 8.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

3M Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 16th. This is a positive change from 3M’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.49. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.82%. 3M’s payout ratio is currently 59.11%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MMM. MADDEN SECURITIES Corp bought a new stake in shares of 3M in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Financial Freedom LLC bought a new stake in shares of 3M in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. US Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of 3M in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Piershale Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of 3M in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new stake in shares of 3M in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. 65.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About 3M

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3M Co is a technology company, which manufactures industrial, safety, and consumer products. It operates through the following segments: Safety and Industrial, Transportation and Electronics, Health Care, Consumer, and Corporate and Unallocated. The Safety and Industrial segment consists of personal safety, industrial adhesives and tapes, abrasives, closure and masking systems, electrical markets, automotive aftermarket, and roofing granules.