Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 65,519 Shares of Levi Strauss & Co. $LEVI

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) by 0.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,759,464 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock after selling 65,519 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 2.21% of Levi Strauss & Co. worth $136,560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LEVI. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,450,000. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 50.5% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 324,182 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $5,607,000 after acquiring an additional 108,779 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,341,317 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $23,205,000 after acquiring an additional 137,933 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 1,141.4% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 21,030 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $364,000 after acquiring an additional 19,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 159,250 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $2,755,000 after acquiring an additional 9,303 shares during the last quarter. 69.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Levi Strauss & Co. Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:LEVI opened at $20.7170 on Friday. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 12-month low of $12.17 and a 12-month high of $22.35. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.72. The company has a market capitalization of $8.20 billion, a PE ratio of 20.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.09. Levi Strauss & Co. had a return on equity of 28.75% and a net margin of 6.40%.The business had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.16 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 24th were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This is a positive change from Levi Strauss & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 24th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Levi Strauss & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LEVI. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $24.00 target price (up from $20.00) on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Levi Strauss & Co. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.45.

Levi Strauss & Co. Profile

Levi Strauss & Co engages in the design, marketing, and sale of apparel products. The company offers jeans, casual and dress pants, tops, shorts, skirts, jackets, footwear, and related accessories. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, and Asia. The company was founded by Levi Strauss in 1853 and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA.