Amundi Purchases 898,244 Shares of 3M (NYSE:MMM)

Amundi boosted its position in 3M (NYSE:MMM) by 55.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,511,095 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 898,244 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned 0.46% of 3M worth $337,815,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MMM. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of 3M by 88.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,961,866 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,225,087,000 after buying an additional 4,212,409 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of 3M during the fourth quarter valued at about $103,788,000. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of 3M during the third quarter valued at about $82,208,000. Parsifal Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of 3M by 179.0% during the third quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP now owns 820,094 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $112,107,000 after buying an additional 526,194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of 3M by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,689,486 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $734,456,000 after buying an additional 479,621 shares during the last quarter. 65.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MMM shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on 3M from $142.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group raised 3M from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $130.00 to $184.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of 3M in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on 3M from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $96.00 target price on shares of 3M in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, 3M has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $149.13.

3M Stock Performance

Shares of MMM opened at $146.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.86, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.08. 3M has a one year low of $78.14 and a one year high of $156.35. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $144.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $136.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.46 billion, a PE ratio of 19.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.97.

3M (NYSE:MMM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The conglomerate reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.02. 3M had a net margin of 15.71% and a return on equity of 100.77%. The business had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.77 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.42 earnings per share. 3M’s quarterly revenue was down 25.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that 3M will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

3M Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.73 per share. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. This is a positive change from 3M’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. 3M’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.68%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Christian T. Goralski, Jr. sold 6,318 shares of 3M stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.43, for a total transaction of $944,098.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $750,736.32. This trade 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 the SEC website. Also, EVP Victoria Clarke sold 1,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.22, for a total transaction of $269,885.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 194 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,918.68. This trade represents a 90.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 113,639 shares of company stock worth $17,163,446. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

3M Company 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.