Advisors Asset Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) by 57.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 80,722 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,569 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Conagra Brands were worth $2,393,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Conagra Brands by 17.4% in the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,000 after acquiring an additional 1,474 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC raised its holdings in Conagra Brands by 39.7% in the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 2,454 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 698 shares during the last quarter. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Conagra Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $393,000. Ossiam grew its position in Conagra Brands by 10,323.9% in the 1st quarter. Ossiam now owns 343,675 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,187,000 after purchasing an additional 340,378 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis grew its position in Conagra Brands by 489.0% in the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 293,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,708,000 after purchasing an additional 243,908 shares during the period. 83.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Conagra Brands news, EVP Charisse Brock sold 15,444 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.37, for a total value of $469,034.28. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 113,254 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,439,523.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Conagra Brands Stock Performance

Shares of CAG stock traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $29.94. 3,518,765 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,617,913. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.31 billion, a PE ratio of 41.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $29.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.27. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.16 and a 12 month high of $33.39.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 11th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. Conagra Brands had a net margin of 2.88% and a return on equity of 14.31%. Conagra Brands’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.62 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Conagra Brands, Inc. will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 1st. Conagra Brands’s payout ratio is currently 191.78%.

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.