Barclays PLC Increases Stock Holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI)

Barclays PLC boosted its position in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) by 50.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 324,182 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock after buying an additional 108,779 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. were worth $5,607,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 114,442 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $1,980,000 after purchasing an additional 892 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 54,151 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $937,000 after purchasing an additional 1,283 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 32.9% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,103 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 2,998 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in the fourth quarter worth $82,000. 69.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on LEVI shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Telsey Advisory Group dropped their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $23.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Levi Strauss & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America raised shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.18.

Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Performance

LEVI stock opened at $16.08 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $15.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.05. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 1-year low of $12.17 and a 1-year high of $24.34. The company has a market capitalization of $6.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.92, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 7th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a return on equity of 25.88% and a net margin of 3.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 24th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. Levi Strauss & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Levi Strauss & Co.

In related news, Director David A. Friedman sold 4,166 shares of Levi Strauss & Co. stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.44, for a total value of $76,821.04. Following the sale, the director now owns 100,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,844,221.28. This trade represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Levi Strauss & Co. Company 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.