Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Given New $27.00 Price Target at Telsey Advisory Group

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) had its target price raised by Telsey Advisory Group from $24.00 to $27.00 in a research report released on Friday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the blue-jean maker’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on LEVI. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.00.

Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of LEVI opened at $24.41 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.30. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 12-month low of $12.17 and a 12-month high of $24.82. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $21.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.81. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 10th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a net margin of 6.40% and a return on equity of 28.75%. Levi Strauss & Co.’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.16 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 24th were issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. This is a positive change from Levi Strauss & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 24th. Levi Strauss & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder E. Haas Jr. Family Fund Peter sold 150,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.19, for a total transaction of $3,628,500.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Margaret E. Haas sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.14, for a total value of $1,207,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 201,150 shares of company stock valued at $4,860,018. 1.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 87.6% in the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 53,967 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $841,000 after acquiring an additional 25,197 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. in the first quarter valued at $402,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. by 143.6% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 29,479 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $460,000 after purchasing an additional 17,376 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. in the first quarter valued at $3,259,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. by 6.3% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,639,565 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $26,856,000 after purchasing an additional 97,781 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.14% of the company’s stock.

About Levi Strauss & Co.

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.