3M (NYSE:MMM) Upgraded at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of 3M (NYSE:MMM) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $170.00 target price on the conglomerate’s stock, up from their previous target price of $140.00.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on MMM. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on 3M from $100.00 to $96.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of 3M in a research note on Saturday, January 18th. UBS Group raised 3M from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $130.00 to $184.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of 3M from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of 3M from $142.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $148.87.

3M Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of MMM opened at $149.14 on Wednesday. 3M has a 52-week low of $75.40 and a 52-week high of $152.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $131.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $128.53. The company has a market capitalization of $81.21 billion, a PE ratio of 18.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.95.

3M (NYSE:MMM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The conglomerate reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5,770,390 billion. 3M had a net margin of 15.37% and a return on equity of 104.66%. 3M’s revenue was down 25.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that 3M will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

3M Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. 3M’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.35%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On 3M

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MMM. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of 3M by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,194,612 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,717,503,000 after buying an additional 302,900 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in 3M by 88.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,961,866 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,225,087,000 after acquiring an additional 4,212,409 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of 3M by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,815,625 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $521,596,000 after purchasing an additional 43,942 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 3M by 18.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,531,422 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $258,686,000 after purchasing an additional 396,773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service raised its holdings in shares of 3M by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,268,003 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $173,336,000 after purchasing an additional 161,036 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.25% of the company’s stock.

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.