Short Interest in Campbell Soup (NYSE:CPB) Expands By 5.7%

Campbell Soup (NYSE:CPB) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 19,760,000 shares, an increase of 5.7% from the June 30th total of 18,700,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,600,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.6 days. Approximately 10.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Campbell Soup by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,709,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $393,603,000 after acquiring an additional 161,392 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Campbell Soup by 21.2% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,315,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $147,375,000 after purchasing an additional 580,411 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Campbell Soup in the 4th quarter worth approximately $125,689,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Campbell Soup by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,688,669 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,001,000 after buying an additional 49,663 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Campbell Soup by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,246,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,554,000 after buying an additional 85,099 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.35% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Campbell Soup from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Campbell Soup from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Campbell Soup from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Campbell Soup from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $42.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Campbell Soup from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.56.

Campbell Soup Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of CPB stock traded up $1.02 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $47.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,552,710 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,653,278. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.16. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.27. Campbell Soup has a one year low of $37.94 and a one year high of $48.63.

Campbell Soup (NYSE:CPB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 5th. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.05. Campbell Soup had a net margin of 7.85% and a return on equity of 23.26%. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Campbell Soup will post 3.08 EPS for the current year.

Campbell Soup Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd were given a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. Campbell Soup’s payout ratio is 59.92%.

About Campbell Soup

Campbell Soup Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets food and beverage products in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Meals & Beverages and Snacks segments. The Meals & Beverages segment engages in the retail and foodservice businesses in the United States and Canada.