McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) Shares Climb 1.6% – What’s Next?

Shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) shot up 1.6% on Friday. The stock traded as high as $46.68 and last traded at $46.44. Approximately 6,225,523 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 55% from the average daily volume of 4,012,677 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.71.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MKC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $59.00 price target on shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. UBS Group cut their price target on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings lowered McCormick & Company, Incorporated from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 9th. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price objective on shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $75.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.30.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $12.50 billion, a PE ratio of 8.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $50.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 1st. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. McCormick & Company, Incorporated had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 19.39%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.85 EPS. McCormick & Company, Incorporated has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.050-3.130 EPS. Research analysts predict that McCormick & Company, Incorporated will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 13th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. McCormick & Company, Incorporated’s dividend payout ratio is 34.72%.

Insider Activity at McCormick & Company, Incorporated

In other news, major shareholder Lawrence Kurzius sold 205,538 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.69, for a total transaction of $10,829,797.22. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 296,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,648,508.48. This represents a 40.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 10.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of McCormick & Company, Incorporated

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MKC. Aristotle Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 231.9% in the first quarter. Aristotle Capital Management LLC now owns 12,664,378 shares of the company’s stock valued at $638,795,000 after purchasing an additional 8,848,235 shares in the last quarter. XXEC Inc. purchased a new stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated in the second quarter valued at $154,566,000. Diamant Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 4,848.6% during the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,046,630 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,792,000 after purchasing an additional 1,025,480 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in McCormick & Company, Incorporated in the fourth quarter valued at about $64,522,000. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 72.5% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,023,544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,068,000 after buying an additional 850,343 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.74% of the company’s stock.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Company Profile

McCormick & Company, Incorporated is a global producer and marketer of spices, herbs, seasonings, condiments, sauces and other flavor products. The company sells branded products to consumers through grocery stores, e-commerce channels and other retail outlets, while also supplying customized flavor solutions, ingredients and seasonings to food manufacturers, restaurants and foodservice operators.

Its portfolio includes the McCormick, French’s, Frank’s RedHot, Lawry’s, OLD BAY, Zatarain’s, Grill Mates and Cholula brands, among others.