Kentucky Trust Co Acquires New Position in McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC)

Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 7.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,315,905 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,260,499,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114,706 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 58.2% during the third 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 period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 2,778.8% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 456,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,606,000 after purchasing an additional 441,048 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 321.2% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 449,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,298,000 after purchasing an additional 343,070 shares during the period. Finally, E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB raised its stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 3,499.8% during the third quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB now owns 334,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,552,000 after purchasing an additional 325,477 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MKC shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $91.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen raised shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $86.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.75.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Price Performance

MKC opened at $76.90 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.41. The firm has a market cap of $20.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.25, a PEG ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.75. McCormick & Company, Incorporated has a twelve month low of $64.33 and a twelve month high of $85.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. McCormick & Company, Incorporated had a net margin of 11.73% and a return on equity of 14.89%. Equities research analysts expect that McCormick & Company, Incorporated will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. This is a positive change from McCormick & Company, Incorporated’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. McCormick & Company, Incorporated’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.43%.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Company Profile

McCormick & Co, Inc engages in the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of spices, seasoning mixes, condiments, and other flavorful products to retail outlets, food manufacturers, and foodservice businesses. It operates through the Consumer and Flavor Solutions segments. The Consumer segment sells spices, seasonings, condiments, and sauces.