3M Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:MMM)

3M Company (NYSE:MMM) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders acquired 14,700 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 66% compared to the average volume of 8,881 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MMM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on 3M from $181.00 to $171.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of 3M from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of 3M from $133.00 to $123.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of 3M from $175.00 to $166.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of 3M from $182.00 to $178.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.29.

3M Price Performance

Shares of MMM opened at $161.68 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $84.33 billion, a PE ratio of 31.15, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $155.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $156.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.59. 3M has a twelve month low of $139.34 and a twelve month high of $177.41.

3M (NYSE:MMM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $6 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.04 billion. 3M had a net margin of 11.14% and a return on equity of 104.75%. 3M’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.88 EPS. 3M has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.500-8.700 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that 3M will post 8.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

3M Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 22nd. 3M’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.12%.

Institutional Trading of 3M

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MMM. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in 3M by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 8,898 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after purchasing an additional 1,872 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of 3M by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,751 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $355,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its stake in shares of 3M by 11.4% in the second quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 21,606 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,289,000 after buying an additional 2,203 shares during the last quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new stake in shares of 3M during the 2nd quarter worth $61,000. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc grew its stake in 3M by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 10,301 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,568,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.25% of the company’s stock.

About 3M

3M Company, originally founded in 1902 as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, is a diversified global technology and manufacturing firm headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota. Over its history the company has expanded from mineral mining into a broad portfolio of industrial, safety, healthcare and consumer products, building a reputation for applied science and product innovation across many end markets.

3M’s businesses span a wide range of product categories including adhesives and tapes, abrasives, filtration and separation technologies, personal protective equipment such as respirators, medical and dental products, industrial and automotive solutions, and a suite of consumer brands (for example, well-known office and home products).