David A. Friedman Sells 12,500 Shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Stock

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Director David A. Friedman sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.23, for a total value of $265,375.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 187,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,980,794.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Levi Strauss & Co. Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:LEVI opened at $22.00 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $8.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $19.62 and its 200-day moving average is $17.13. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 52-week low of $12.41 and a 52-week high of $22.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.43.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $1.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a return on equity of 20.68% and a net margin of 2.05%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.34 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 8th. Levi Strauss & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 154.84%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Levi Strauss & Co.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 96.3% during the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 69,999 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $1,399,000 after buying an additional 34,347 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. during the first quarter worth about $1,739,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 230.0% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 56,934 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $1,138,000 after buying an additional 39,683 shares in the last quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC grew its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 52.9% during the first quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC now owns 26,950 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $539,000 after buying an additional 9,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waycross Investment Management Co grew its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 14.1% during the first quarter. Waycross Investment Management Co now owns 37,240 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $744,000 after buying an additional 4,608 shares in the last quarter. 69.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LEVI has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $17.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.56.

About Levi Strauss & Co.

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.