McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the ten brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $81.00.

MKC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen increased their target price on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $85.00 to $91.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised McCormick & Company, Incorporated to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Insider Transactions at McCormick & Company, Incorporated

In related news, Director Jacques Tapiero sold 5,000 shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total transaction of $386,700.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 28,217 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,182,302.78. This trade represents a 15.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 20,000 shares of company stock worth $1,565,850 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 22.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On McCormick & Company, Incorporated

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,315,905 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,260,499,000 after buying an additional 1,114,706 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 0.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,886,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $482,823,000 after acquiring an additional 54,018 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,003,136 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,158,000 after acquiring an additional 177,567 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 58.2% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,544,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,115,000 after purchasing an additional 568,276 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,463,052 shares of the company’s stock worth $120,409,000 after purchasing an additional 30,696 shares during the period. 79.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Price Performance

MKC stock opened at $80.56 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.62 billion, a PE ratio of 27.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s 50-day moving average is $78.37 and its 200-day moving average is $76.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.32. McCormick & Company, Incorporated has a 1 year low of $63.88 and a 1 year high of $85.49.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.15. McCormick & Company, Incorporated had a return on equity of 15.30% and a net margin of 11.87%. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that McCormick & Company, Incorporated will post 2.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This is a positive change from McCormick & Company, Incorporated’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 30th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. McCormick & Company, Incorporated’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.14%.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Company Profile

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.