Herold Advisors Inc. Acquires 603 Shares of 3M (NYSE:MMM)

Herold Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 3M (NYSE:MMM) by 13.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,258 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 603 shares during the period. Herold Advisors Inc.’s holdings in 3M were worth $575,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MMM. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its position in shares of 3M by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 110,988 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $10,391,000 after purchasing an additional 14,775 shares during the last quarter. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in shares of 3M by 49.7% in the 3rd quarter. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 16,747 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,568,000 after purchasing an additional 5,561 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its position in shares of 3M by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 18,487 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,021,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. MWA Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of 3M in the 4th quarter worth about $1,723,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in 3M in the 3rd quarter worth about $11,908,000. Institutional investors own 65.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MMM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on 3M from $118.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of 3M in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. StockNews.com raised 3M from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays decreased their target price on 3M from $126.00 to $107.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on 3M from $95.31 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.00.

3M Stock Performance

Shares of 3M stock traded up $0.39 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $91.80. 4,519,673 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,728,667. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $95.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.02. 3M has a one year low of $71.12 and a one year high of $95.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.69.

3M (NYSE:MMM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $8.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.69 billion. 3M had a positive return on equity of 62.45% and a negative net margin of 21.40%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.28 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that 3M will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

3M Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a dividend of $1.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This is an increase from 3M’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.58%. 3M’s payout ratio is -47.82%.

Insider Activity at 3M

In related news, insider Rodriguez Beatriz Karin Chavez sold 426 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.32, for a total transaction of $39,328.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $366,141.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.