Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Given “Buy” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $28.00 target price on the blue-jean maker’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price points to a potential upside of 47.24% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on LEVI. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Levi Strauss & Co. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.79.

Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Down 2.5%

NYSE LEVI opened at $19.02 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $21.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.60. The company has a market cap of $7.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.32. Levi Strauss & Co. has a one year low of $17.72 and a one year high of $25.70.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 7th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.12. Levi Strauss & Co. had a net margin of 8.83% and a return on equity of 27.89%. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.34 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Levi Strauss & Co. has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.540-1.560 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Levi Strauss & Co. news, EVP Harmit Singh sold 98,144 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.22, for a total transaction of $2,377,047.68. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 98,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,391,652.34. The trade was a 49.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Levi Strauss & Co.

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 139.7% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 23,390 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $461,000 after purchasing an additional 13,633 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 392,152 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $9,737,000 after purchasing an additional 29,501 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 983,097 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $24,410,000 after purchasing an additional 69,437 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,644,561 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $40,834,000 after purchasing an additional 7,827 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 74.3% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 811,600 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $20,152,000 after purchasing an additional 345,855 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.14% of the company’s stock.

Key Levi Strauss & Co. News

Here are the key news stories impacting Levi Strauss & Co. this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Adjusted third-quarter EPS was $0.48, well above the roughly $0.35–$0.36 analyst consensus, while revenue increased 4.3% year over year to $1.61 billion. Stronger margins, wholesale performance and international growth supported profitability. Levi Strauss Third-Quarter Results
• Positive Sentiment: Levi raised fiscal 2026 adjusted EPS guidance to $1.54–$1.56 from $1.46–$1.52, helped partly by approximately $80 million in tariff refunds. The company also expects about 4% organic revenue growth in the fourth quarter. Levi Strauss Raises Profit Guidance
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain encouraged by Levi’s response to changing denim preferences, including its shift toward looser-fitting jeans and use of real-time data. Needham reiterated a Buy rating with a $28 target, while JPMorgan and Barclays maintained Overweight ratings despite modest target reductions.
• Positive Sentiment: The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.16 per share, equivalent to $0.64 annually and a reported yield of about 3.4%. Elevated call-option activity also suggested speculative bullish interest.
• Neutral Sentiment: Levi plans to reinvest much of the tariff refund into the business, including DTC initiatives and an AI shopping assistant, rather than broadly lowering prices. This could support longer-term growth but limits the immediate benefit to shareholders.
• Negative Sentiment: DTC revenue growth was only about 2% and U.S. demand remained soft, falling short of expectations. Analysts described the quarter as showing lower growth visibility despite signs that momentum may recover. Levi Strauss Under Pressure
• Negative Sentiment: Fiscal 2026 revenue guidance was set near $6.7 billion, below the approximately $6.8 billion consensus, and the reported revenue of $1.61 billion narrowly missed estimates. Wells Fargo cut its target to $20 and moved to Equal Weight, adding to investor caution.

Levi Strauss & Co. Company Profile

Levi Strauss & Co is an apparel company best known for its Levi’s brand of denim jeans and related clothing. Its product portfolio includes jeans, tops, bottoms, jackets, footwear, accessories and other casualwear for men, women and children.

Founded in 1853 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, the company also owns the Dockers, Beyond Yoga and Signature by Levi Strauss & Co brands. Levi Strauss & Co sells its products through company-operated stores, e-commerce platforms, wholesale partners and other distribution channels.

The company serves customers in North America, Europe, Asia and other international markets.