3M (NYSE:MMM) Shares Sold by WASHINGTON TRUST Co

WASHINGTON TRUST Co lowered its stake in shares of 3M (NYSE:MMM) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,044 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 326 shares during the quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in 3M were worth $661,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC bought a new stake in 3M in the fourth quarter valued at $255,000. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in 3M in the fourth quarter valued at $221,000. Northstar Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in 3M by 42.2% in the fourth quarter. Northstar Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,557 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $389,000 after buying an additional 1,055 shares during the last quarter. Spring Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 3M by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Spring Capital Management LLC now owns 23,657 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,586,000 after purchasing an additional 2,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cresta Advisors Ltd. raised its stake in shares of 3M by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. Cresta Advisors Ltd. now owns 3,500 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MMM. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of 3M from $117.00 to $104.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of 3M in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com assumed coverage on 3M in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on 3M from $112.00 to $105.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays raised 3M from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $111.00 to $126.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.60.

3M Stock Performance

MMM traded up $1.45 on Thursday, hitting $106.04. The company had a trading volume of 2,072,217 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,068,403. 3M has a 1-year low of $85.35 and a 1-year high of $113.14. The stock has a market cap of $58.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $96.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $97.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

3M (NYSE:MMM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $8.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.69 billion. 3M had a positive return on equity of 62.45% and a negative net margin of 21.40%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.28 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that 3M will post 9.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

3M Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were given a $1.51 dividend. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.70%. This is a boost from 3M’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. 3M’s dividend payout ratio is -47.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at 3M

In other news, insider Rodriguez Beatriz Karin Chavez sold 426 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 3,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $366,141.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

3M Profile

3M Company provides diversified technology services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Safety and Industrial; Transportation and Electronics; Health Care; and Consumer. The 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.