Griffin Asset Management Inc. Buys 400 Shares of 3M (NYSE:MMM)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in 3M (NYSE:MMM) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,960 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in 3M were worth $1,157,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in shares of 3M by 16.2% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 146,333 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $20,004,000 after buying an additional 20,421 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in 3M by 26.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 845,401 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $114,770,000 after acquiring an additional 178,450 shares during the period. Meyer Handelman Co. raised its position in shares of 3M by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 197,618 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,511,000 after acquiring an additional 2,678 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of 3M by 40.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 18,217 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,490,000 after purchasing an additional 5,210 shares during the period. Finally, Stonegate Investment Group LLC boosted its position in shares of 3M by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 252,847 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,564,000 after purchasing an additional 13,473 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MMM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on 3M from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $96.00 target price on shares of 3M in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of 3M from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of 3M from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upgraded 3M from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $130.00 to $184.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $148.87.

3M Stock Up 1.3 %

MMM opened at $151.44 on Tuesday. 3M has a fifty-two week low of $75.40 and a fifty-two week high of $152.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.86, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company’s 50-day moving average is $132.83 and its 200 day moving average is $129.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.06, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.95.

3M (NYSE:MMM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The conglomerate reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5,770,390 billion. 3M had a return on equity of 100.77% and a net margin of 15.71%. The company’s revenue was down 25.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.42 EPS. Research analysts expect that 3M will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

3M Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. 3M’s payout ratio is 37.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Christian T. Goralski, Jr. sold 6,318 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.43, for a total value of $944,098.74. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $750,736.32. This represents a 55.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Michael F. Roman sold 45,276 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.01, for a total value of $6,791,852.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 175,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,359,457.18. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 53,903 shares of company stock valued at $8,082,186. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

3M Profile

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.