3M Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.70 (NYSE:MMM)

3M (NYSE:MMM) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 5th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.70 per share by the conglomerate on Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.21%.

3M has raised its dividend by an average of 0.7% annually over the last three years. 3M has a dividend payout ratio of 35.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect 3M to earn $7.90 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 35.4%.

3M Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:MMM traded up $0.68 on Tuesday, hitting $126.53. 3,941,398 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,903,628. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $132.88 and a 200-day moving average of $115.73. The stock has a market cap of $68.90 billion, a PE ratio of 16.09, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. 3M has a fifty-two week low of $75.40 and a fifty-two week high of $141.34.

3M (NYSE:MMM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.05. 3M had a net margin of 15.37% and a return on equity of 104.66%. The business had revenue of $6.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.68 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that 3M will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MMM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Melius Research raised shares of 3M from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of 3M from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. StockNews.com lowered 3M from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Mizuho increased their target price on 3M from $105.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded 3M from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $110.00 to $150.00 in a report on Monday, July 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $139.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Michael F. Roman sold 5,675 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.46, for a total value of $700,635.50. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 174,036 shares in the company, valued at $21,486,484.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.38% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.