The J. M. Smucker Company (SJM): Among the Best Dividend Growth Stocks with High Yields
Dividend-paying stocks have been gaining popularity among investors due to their long-term advantages. According to Jeremy Zirin, who leads the US equity team for private clients at UBS Asset Management, companies with a consistent track record of increasing dividends are a smart choice for investors seeking a balanced approach in the current market environment. When markets dipped in April after President Donald Trump announced new tariff policies, investors gravitated toward high-yield dividend stocks. However, as trade tensions began to ease and negotiations progressed, markets recovered. Stocks surged particularly after the US and China agreed to temporarily reduce tariffs. He made the following comment about dividend stocks:
'The higher-dividend-yielding strategies tend to do better when markets are in real turmoil and declining, but if there's more chop, more volatility and potentially upside … you don't want to be overly defensive.'
Historically, companies that consistently increase their dividends have tended to be less volatile and often delivered stronger returns than the broader market, including benchmarks like the S&P Equal Weight Index. According to a report by Guggenheim, from May 2005 through December 2024, firms that either initiated or raised their dividends generated an average annual return of 10.5%. In contrast, companies that cut or suspended their payouts posted just 5.5% annually. The overall market returned 10.4% during this timeframe, slightly behind the dividend growers. The report also highlighted that dividend growth strategies have historically performed well in both rising and falling markets, making them an attractive option for investors focused on long-term gains and downside protection.
According to a report by S&P Global, the growth of global dividend payments had been slowing since the post-COVID recovery, but that trend reversed last year. In 2024, the growth rate unexpectedly accelerated to 8%, with shareholders receiving approximately $180 billion more than the previous year. This increase came as a surprise given the persistent geopolitical and economic challenges. The report also highlighted that several sectors and regions saw record dividend initiations, including the US technology, media, and telecom (TMT) sector, banks in Italy and Spain, Japan's automotive industry, and a general rise in payouts from Mainland China. Even with extreme price fluctuations, dividend payments from the oil and gas sector remained strong. Looking ahead, the report suggested that this high level of dividends is likely to hold steady, with global payouts expected to remain at $2.3 trillion in 2025.
With growing investor appetite for dividend-paying stocks, many companies have responded by gradually increasing their dividend payouts. A report by Janus Henderson revealed that global dividend payments reached a record $1.75 trillion in 2024, reflecting a 6.6% rise on an underlying basis. The overall growth rate came in at 5.2%, slightly held back by a drop in special one-time dividends and the effect of a stronger U.S. dollar. Out of the 49 countries covered in the report, 17—including major economies such as the US, Canada, France, Japan, and China—posted record-high dividend levels. In total, 88% of companies either raised or held their dividends steady over the year.
A wholesaler distributing peanut butter, fruit spreads and specialty spreads to a retailer.
For this list, we screened for dividend stocks with yields higher than 3% as of May 13. From this group, we further refined our selection criteria by identifying stocks with a dividend growth streak of 10 years or more. The stocks are ranked in ascending order of their dividend yields.
At Insider Monkey, we are obsessed with hedge funds. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points ().
Dividend Yield as of May 13: 3.87%
The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) is an American food company, headquartered in Ohio. The company manufactures a wide range of food and beverage products. In its recent quarterly update, the company emphasized the importance of its procurement strategies amid rising commodity prices, especially green coffee, to help safeguard margins. The company also pointed to one-time factors, such as trademark impairments and supply chain disruptions, that negatively affected its overall operating performance and contributed to mixed results.
For fiscal Q3 2025, The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) reported $2.2 billion in revenue, a 2% year-over-year decline. It posted a net loss of $6.22 per diluted share, mainly due to noncash impairment charges tied to its Sweet Baked Snacks business. However, on an adjusted basis, earnings per share rose 5% to $2.61. Gross profit increased by $55 million, or 7%, thanks to improved pricing, cost efficiencies, and benefits from the Hostess Brands acquisition, though lower volumes and recent divestitures partially offset these gains.
Though The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) is a strong dividend company, its cash position took a hit this quarter. Free cash flow dropped significantly to $151.3 million, down 39.3% from the prior year, due to timing differences in tax payments and increased working capital needs. Operating cash flow also declined, highlighting the need for more disciplined cash management going forward. Despite these challenges, SJM remains appealing to income-focused investors, supported by a 23-year streak of dividend growth. Currently, it offers a quarterly dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.87%, as of May 13.
Overall, SJM ranks 15th on our list of the best dividend growth stocks with high yields. While we acknowledge the potential of SJM as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some deeply undervalued dividend stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for a deeply undervalued dividend stock that is more promising than SJM but that trades at 10 times its earnings and grows its earnings at double digit rates annually, check out our report about the .
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at .
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Business Wire
30 minutes ago
- Business Wire
AI Investors Have Opportunity to Join C3.ai, Inc. Fraud Investigation with the Schall Law Firm
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Schall Law Firm, a national shareholder rights litigation firm, announces that it is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Inc. ('C3' or 'the Company') (NYSE: AI) for violations of the securities laws. The investigation focuses on whether the Company issued false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose information pertinent to investors. C3 announced its financial results for Q1 2025 on August 8, 2025. The Company's revenues fell short of prior guidance, which it attributed in part to disruption related to its sales and services organizations. Based on this news, shares of C3 fell by more than 20% on August 11, 2025. If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate. We also encourage you to contact Brian Schall of the Schall Law Firm, 2049 Century Park East, Suite 2460, Los Angeles, CA 90067, at 310-301-3335, to discuss your rights free of charge. You can also reach us through the firm's website at or by email at bschall@ The Schall Law Firm represents investors around the world and specializes in securities class action lawsuits and shareholder rights litigation. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and rules of ethics.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trade Partners Grow Restless Waiting for Trump's Tariff Breaks
(Bloomberg) -- UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer declared at a Jaguar Land Rover factory in May that his world-leading trade deal with President Donald Trump included a cut in US tariffs on British steel to zero. More than three months later, steel lobbyist Peter Brennan was still waiting for that relief to become reality. The US-Canadian Road Safety Gap Is Getting Wider Festivals and Parades Are Canceled Amid US Immigration Anxiety A Photographer's Pipe Dream: Capturing New York's Vast Water System Princeton Plans New Budget Cuts as Pressure From Trump Builds A London Apartment Tower With Echoes of Victorian Rail and Ancient Rome Brennan, director of trade and economic policy at industry body UK Steel, said most members had seen US orders fall because of the uncertainty over America's 25% import tax. One producer that makes particularly price-competitive products said they'd be out of business by year-end if tariffs aren't reduced to zero, he added. 'Concern is growing that finalizing the deal on steel has fallen down the priority list both for the UK and US governments,' Brennan said last week. 'The will to close the deal may well be faltering on both sides.' Frustration and economic losses like those in the UK are growing in Japan, the European Union and South Korea. Those three made similar announcements over the past month: that Washington granted them leniency on auto exports in the haggling over the level of Trump's across-the-board tariffs that took effect Aug. 7. But for the trio of car export powerhouses, which unlike the UK face a 50% duty on their steel and aluminum, the wait for Trump's concession continues while an American levy justified on national security grounds on imported Toyotas, BMWs, Hyundais and others remains at a crippling 25%. 'We're continuing to see damage — the bleeding hasn't stopped,' Japan's chief trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said Friday in a reference to the country's car industry. 'We want the US to sign the executive order as soon as possible.' Spokesmen for the White House, the US Trade Representative's office and the Commerce Department didn't reply to requests for comment. 'Forever Negotiations' It was three weeks ago that EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen shook hands with Trump in Scotland over what she called an 'all-inclusive' tariff of 15% that officials in Brussels later understood to be a ceiling that would also apply to cars. VDA, which represents Germany's car industry, is pressing for fast implementation to alleviate a 'considerable burden' on manufacturers and their suppliers. 'The deal between the EU and the US has not yet brought any clarity or improvement for the German automotive industry,' VDA President Hildegard Müller said in a statement to Bloomberg News on Thursday. 'The costs incurred run into the billions and continue to rise.' Cecilia Malmström, the former European commissioner for trade who's now a nonresident fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, cautioned that any delays may be purely administrative. But 'if nothing happens, there will be huge pressure on the European Commission to retaliate or to act in some way, especially from carmakers in Germany, Italy, France, Sweden and others,' she said. 'There are so many other things that are vague in the EU-US deal — and in the others as well — so it is likely we will see forever negotiations and a lot of filibustering.' At a press briefing on Aug. 14, European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill said Washington and Brussels are finalizing a joint statement. 'The US has made political commitments to us in this respect and we look forward to them being implemented,' he said. Japan's Uncertainty Less than a week before the EU's announcement, the US and Japan clinched a surprise deal on July 22 that lowered across-the-board tariffs and car levies to 15%. So far the broader duties have been implemented but the added tax on autos remains at 25%. Officials in Asia's No. 2 economy are waiting for an executive order from Trump to bring down the car levies, as well as an official directive — like the EU already received — to clarify that the universal tariffs don't stack on top of existing duties. Akazawa has mentioned how a Japanese carmaker is losing ¥100 million ($680,000) every hour due to the tariffs. Last month Nissan Motor Corp. said it foresaw a ¥300 billion hit from the lower tariff rate, down from a previous estimate of ¥450 billion. But Chief Executive Officer Ivan Espinosa has warned of the difficulties in giving an accurate forecast as long as it's unclear when the tariffs will take effect and in what way. Akazawa flew to the US earlier this month to confirm that the US will be adjusting its executive order soon to remove the stacking, and pay back overcharges on tariffs. Neither has yet to materialize. Hyundai, Kia Facing similar questions is South Korea, which announced a trade agreement with Washington on July 31. That pact would impose a 15% tariff on imports to the US, including autos, alongside a $350 billion Korean investment pledge focused on shipbuilding, and $100 billion in energy purchases. The 15% universal tariff took effect earlier this month under Trump's order, but like Japan, the sectoral auto tariff remain at 25%. While South Korea's exports overall have stayed resilient in the first half of the year, thanks to front-loading by companies anticipating higher US tariffs, the value of car shipments to the US fell nearly 17%, and steel exports dropped more than 11%, trade data showed. South Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. and affiliate Kia Corp. could face as much as $5 billion in additional costs this year even under the new 15% auto tariff, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Joanna Chen. While avoiding a 25% levy will save more than $3 billion, the duty squeezes margins amid softer demand and tighter subsidies, intensifying competition with Japanese automakers, Chen said. Korean President Lee Jae Myung's planned summit with Trump on Aug. 25 — their first meeting since Lee took office in June — will test the durability of the $350 billion investment pledge, as well as their alliance over sensitive issues like defense spending, US troop levels and North Korea policy. 'Just Overwhelmed' For Starmer and the UK, most aspects of the pact have now come into force, including a 10% so-called reciprocal rate that's the lowest among all US trading partners. Yet Trump's 25% tax on British steel still chafes amid the delays in cutting it. Among the issues to resolve is the US's insistence that steel should be melted and poured in the UK in order to qualify. That's a requirement which Tata Steel UK, one of the country's biggest producers, is no longer able to fulfill after closing down its blast furnace last year. Its new electric arc furnace is not due to be ready until late 2027. People familiar with the government's thinking are cautiously optimistic they might be able to secure exemptions to the melt-and-pour rule, whereby steel imported from certain European countries before being further processed in the UK is allowed to qualify as British. 'It's not for lack of trying by the UK government,' said Tim Rutter, director of public affairs at Tata Steel. 'We hear that US departments are just overwhelmed.' A spokesperson for the UK Department for Business and Trade said officials will continue to work with Washington to implement the deal as soon as possible. Late on Friday in Washington, the US Customs and Border Protection agency issued new inclusions to steel and aluminum product lists for tariffs that take effect Monday, with some of the guidance affecting imports from the UK. Japan's Akazawa acknowledged that even with the UK, actual implementation of key parts of their deal took 54 days. As a result, he's said that it's 'not bad' if an executive order from the US comes by around mid-September. 'It's just further confirmation that negotiations never really end,' especially with more US tariffs coming for sectors including pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, said Sam Lowe, a partner at Flint Global in London and head of its trade and market access practice. --With assistance from Nick Heubeck, Max Ramsay, Stefan Nicola, Sakura Murakami, Soo-Hyang Choi and Josh Wingrove. What Declining Cardboard Box Sales Tell Us About the US Economy Americans Are Getting Priced Out of Homeownership at Record Rates Living With 12 Strangers to Ease a Housing Crunch Bessent on Tariffs, Deficits and Embracing Trump's Economic Plan How Syrian Immigrants Are Boosting Germany's Economy ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trade Partners Grow Restless Waiting for Trump's Tariff Breaks
(Bloomberg) -- UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer declared at a Jaguar Land Rover factory in May that his world-leading trade deal with President Donald Trump included a cut in US tariffs on British steel to zero. More than three months later, steel lobbyist Peter Brennan was still waiting for that relief to become reality. The US-Canadian Road Safety Gap Is Getting Wider Festivals and Parades Are Canceled Amid US Immigration Anxiety A Photographer's Pipe Dream: Capturing New York's Vast Water System Princeton Plans New Budget Cuts as Pressure From Trump Builds A London Apartment Tower With Echoes of Victorian Rail and Ancient Rome Brennan, director of trade and economic policy at industry body UK Steel, said most members had seen US orders fall because of the uncertainty over America's 25% import tax. One producer that makes particularly price-competitive products said they'd be out of business by year-end if tariffs aren't reduced to zero, he added. 'Concern is growing that finalizing the deal on steel has fallen down the priority list both for the UK and US governments,' Brennan said last week. 'The will to close the deal may well be faltering on both sides.' Frustration and economic losses like those in the UK are growing in Japan, the European Union and South Korea. Those three made similar announcements over the past month: that Washington granted them leniency on auto exports in the haggling over the level of Trump's across-the-board tariffs that took effect Aug. 7. But for the trio of car export powerhouses, which unlike the UK face a 50% duty on their steel and aluminum, the wait for Trump's concession continues while an American levy justified on national security grounds on imported Toyotas, BMWs, Hyundais and others remains at a crippling 25%. 'We're continuing to see damage — the bleeding hasn't stopped,' Japan's chief trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said Friday in a reference to the country's car industry. 'We want the US to sign the executive order as soon as possible.' Spokesmen for the White House, the US Trade Representative's office and the Commerce Department didn't reply to requests for comment. 'Forever Negotiations' It was three weeks ago that EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen shook hands with Trump in Scotland over what she called an 'all-inclusive' tariff of 15% that officials in Brussels later understood to be a ceiling that would also apply to cars. VDA, which represents Germany's car industry, is pressing for fast implementation to alleviate a 'considerable burden' on manufacturers and their suppliers. 'The deal between the EU and the US has not yet brought any clarity or improvement for the German automotive industry,' VDA President Hildegard Müller said in a statement to Bloomberg News on Thursday. 'The costs incurred run into the billions and continue to rise.' Cecilia Malmström, the former European commissioner for trade who's now a nonresident fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, cautioned that any delays may be purely administrative. But 'if nothing happens, there will be huge pressure on the European Commission to retaliate or to act in some way, especially from carmakers in Germany, Italy, France, Sweden and others,' she said. 'There are so many other things that are vague in the EU-US deal — and in the others as well — so it is likely we will see forever negotiations and a lot of filibustering.' At a press briefing on Aug. 14, European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill said Washington and Brussels are finalizing a joint statement. 'The US has made political commitments to us in this respect and we look forward to them being implemented,' he said. Japan's Uncertainty Less than a week before the EU's announcement, the US and Japan clinched a surprise deal on July 22 that lowered across-the-board tariffs and car levies to 15%. So far the broader duties have been implemented but the added tax on autos remains at 25%. Officials in Asia's No. 2 economy are waiting for an executive order from Trump to bring down the car levies, as well as an official directive — like the EU already received — to clarify that the universal tariffs don't stack on top of existing duties. Akazawa has mentioned how a Japanese carmaker is losing ¥100 million ($680,000) every hour due to the tariffs. Last month Nissan Motor Corp. said it foresaw a ¥300 billion hit from the lower tariff rate, down from a previous estimate of ¥450 billion. But Chief Executive Officer Ivan Espinosa has warned of the difficulties in giving an accurate forecast as long as it's unclear when the tariffs will take effect and in what way. Akazawa flew to the US earlier this month to confirm that the US will be adjusting its executive order soon to remove the stacking, and pay back overcharges on tariffs. Neither has yet to materialize. Hyundai, Kia Facing similar questions is South Korea, which announced a trade agreement with Washington on July 31. That pact would impose a 15% tariff on imports to the US, including autos, alongside a $350 billion Korean investment pledge focused on shipbuilding, and $100 billion in energy purchases. The 15% universal tariff took effect earlier this month under Trump's order, but like Japan, the sectoral auto tariff remain at 25%. While South Korea's exports overall have stayed resilient in the first half of the year, thanks to front-loading by companies anticipating higher US tariffs, the value of car shipments to the US fell nearly 17%, and steel exports dropped more than 11%, trade data showed. South Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. and affiliate Kia Corp. could face as much as $5 billion in additional costs this year even under the new 15% auto tariff, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Joanna Chen. While avoiding a 25% levy will save more than $3 billion, the duty squeezes margins amid softer demand and tighter subsidies, intensifying competition with Japanese automakers, Chen said. Korean President Lee Jae Myung's planned summit with Trump on Aug. 25 — their first meeting since Lee took office in June — will test the durability of the $350 billion investment pledge, as well as their alliance over sensitive issues like defense spending, US troop levels and North Korea policy. 'Just Overwhelmed' For Starmer and the UK, most aspects of the pact have now come into force, including a 10% so-called reciprocal rate that's the lowest among all US trading partners. Yet Trump's 25% tax on British steel still chafes amid the delays in cutting it. Among the issues to resolve is the US's insistence that steel should be melted and poured in the UK in order to qualify. That's a requirement which Tata Steel UK, one of the country's biggest producers, is no longer able to fulfill after closing down its blast furnace last year. Its new electric arc furnace is not due to be ready until late 2027. People familiar with the government's thinking are cautiously optimistic they might be able to secure exemptions to the melt-and-pour rule, whereby steel imported from certain European countries before being further processed in the UK is allowed to qualify as British. 'It's not for lack of trying by the UK government,' said Tim Rutter, director of public affairs at Tata Steel. 'We hear that US departments are just overwhelmed.' A spokesperson for the UK Department for Business and Trade said officials will continue to work with Washington to implement the deal as soon as possible. Late on Friday in Washington, the US Customs and Border Protection agency issued new inclusions to steel and aluminum product lists for tariffs that take effect Monday, with some of the guidance affecting imports from the UK. Japan's Akazawa acknowledged that even with the UK, actual implementation of key parts of their deal took 54 days. As a result, he's said that it's 'not bad' if an executive order from the US comes by around mid-September. 'It's just further confirmation that negotiations never really end,' especially with more US tariffs coming for sectors including pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, said Sam Lowe, a partner at Flint Global in London and head of its trade and market access practice. --With assistance from Nick Heubeck, Max Ramsay, Stefan Nicola, Sakura Murakami, Soo-Hyang Choi and Josh Wingrove. What Declining Cardboard Box Sales Tell Us About the US Economy Americans Are Getting Priced Out of Homeownership at Record Rates Living With 12 Strangers to Ease a Housing Crunch Bessent on Tariffs, Deficits and Embracing Trump's Economic Plan How Syrian Immigrants Are Boosting Germany's Economy ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.