Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $20.56.

LEVI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $17.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Telsey Advisory Group increased their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th.

Levi Strauss & Co. Price Performance

LEVI opened at $20.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.48. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 52-week low of $12.41 and a 52-week high of $22.39.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The blue-jean maker reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a net margin of 2.05% and a return on equity of 20.68%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.34 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 8th. Levi Strauss & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 154.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Levi Strauss & Co.

In other Levi Strauss & Co. news, major shareholder Margaret E. Haas sold 9,462 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.01, for a total transaction of $170,410.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Bradley J. Haas sold 14,015 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.05, for a total transaction of $309,030.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Margaret E. Haas sold 9,462 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.01, for a total value of $170,410.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 168,727 shares of company stock valued at $3,275,016 in the last three months. 3.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,626,322 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $117,145,000 after acquiring an additional 610,838 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,391,385 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $138,794,000 after buying an additional 97,043 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,625,378 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $109,584,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. lifted its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 11.7% in the first quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 5,989,518 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $109,189,000 after buying an additional 626,601 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 1.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,913,865 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $80,310,000 after buying an additional 105,924 shares during the last quarter. 69.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Levi Strauss & Co. Company Profile

Levi Strauss & Co designs, markets, and sells apparels and related accessories for men, women, and children worldwide. The company offers jeans, casual and dress pants, activewears, tops, shorts, skirts, dresses, jumpsuits, shirts, sweaters, jackets, footwear, and related accessories under the Levi's, Dockers, Signature by Levi Strauss & Co, Denizen, and Beyond Yoga brands.