Compton Financial Group LLC Buys Shares of 2,648 McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC)

Compton Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MKC. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 8,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $626,000 after acquiring an additional 1,055 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,853,000. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 133.2% in the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 50,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,838,000 after acquiring an additional 28,981 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 9.7% in the third quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 4,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 194,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,682,000 after purchasing an additional 12,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on MKC. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Barclays upped their target price on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $75.00 to $73.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Citigroup upgraded McCormick & Company, Incorporated from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Argus raised McCormick & Company, Incorporated from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.25.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Trading Up 0.4 %

MKC stock traded up $0.27 on Tuesday, hitting $70.22. 1,784,712 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,007,247. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.75. McCormick & Company, Incorporated has a twelve month low of $59.13 and a twelve month high of $90.45. The business’s fifty day moving average is $72.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.18.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. McCormick & Company, Incorporated had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.07%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that McCormick & Company, Incorporated will post 2.84 earnings per share for the current year.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, July 8th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 8th. McCormick & Company, Incorporated’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.31%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Lawrence Erik Kurzius sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.75, for a total transaction of $5,900,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 199,258 shares in the company, valued at $14,695,277.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Lawrence Erik Kurzius sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.75, for a total value of $5,900,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 199,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,695,277.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Katherine Jenkins sold 1,726 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.35, for a total transaction of $128,328.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 84,458 shares of company stock worth $6,235,714. 22.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About McCormick & Company, Incorporated

McCormick & Company, Incorporated manufactures, markets, and distributes spices, seasoning mixes, condiments, and other flavorful products to the food industry. It operates in two segments, Consumer and Flavor Solutions. The Consumer segment offers spices, herbs, and seasonings, as well as condiments and sauces, and desserts.