Jensen Investment Management Inc. Cuts Position in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI)

Jensen Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) by 38.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 147,630 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock after selling 90,510 shares during the period. Jensen Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. were worth $2,846,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. during the second quarter valued at about $195,000. Isthmus Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. during the fourth quarter valued at about $270,000. BTC Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. during the first quarter valued at about $294,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 104.5% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 16,547 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $319,000 after buying an additional 8,457 shares during the period. Finally, Washington Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. during the first quarter valued at about $330,000. 69.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Levi Strauss & Co. news, Director David A. Friedman sold 4,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.15, for a total transaction of $79,778.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 154,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,952,508.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 12,498 shares of company stock valued at $236,421 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LEVI has been the subject of several analyst reports. OTR Global started coverage on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a research report on Friday, June 14th. They set a “positive” rating for the company. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Levi Strauss & Co. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.38.

Levi Strauss & Co. Trading Up 0.1 %

LEVI stock traded up $0.01 during trading on Friday, reaching $18.84. The company had a trading volume of 26,320 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,231,911. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 52 week low of $12.41 and a 52 week high of $24.34. The company has a market cap of $7.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.80, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50 day moving average of $18.55 and a 200 day moving average of $20.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.05. Levi Strauss & Co. had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 23.21%. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.04 earnings per share. Levi Strauss & Co.’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Friday, August 2nd were paid a $0.13 dividend. This is an increase from Levi Strauss & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 2nd. Levi Strauss & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 148.57%.

Levi Strauss & Co. 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.