Natixis Acquires 243,908 Shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

Natixis lifted its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) by 489.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 293,790 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 243,908 shares during the quarter. Natixis owned approximately 0.06% of Conagra Brands worth $8,708,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 188.3% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 153,336 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,395,000 after acquiring an additional 100,141 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in Conagra Brands by 316.6% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 154,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,414,000 after purchasing an additional 117,042 shares in the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. raised its holdings in Conagra Brands by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 517,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,840,000 after purchasing an additional 37,149 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in Conagra Brands by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 815,947 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,385,000 after purchasing an additional 88,576 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in Conagra Brands by 60.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 71,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,046,000 after purchasing an additional 26,774 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on CAG. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Conagra Brands from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 28th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Conagra Brands from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Conagra Brands from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Conagra Brands from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Conagra Brands from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.18.

Conagra Brands Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE CAG traded down $0.33 during trading on Thursday, reaching $29.53. The company had a trading volume of 4,399,855 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,707,922. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.16 and a 12-month high of $33.55. The stock has a market cap of $14.12 billion, a PE ratio of 40.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.32. The business’s 50-day moving average is $29.23 and its 200 day moving average is $29.26.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 11th. The company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.04. Conagra Brands had a return on equity of 14.31% and a net margin of 2.88%. The company had revenue of $2.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.62 earnings per share. Conagra Brands’s revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Conagra Brands, Inc. will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.74%. Conagra Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 191.78%.

Insider Activity at Conagra Brands

In related news, EVP Charisse Brock sold 15,444 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.37, for a total transaction of $469,034.28. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 113,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,439,523.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Conagra Brands

Conagra Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a consumer packaged goods food company primarily in the United States. The company operates through Grocery & Snacks, Refrigerated & Frozen, International, and Foodservice segments. The Grocery & Snacks segment primarily offers shelf stable food products through various retail channels.