Valmark Advisers Inc. Invests $325,000 in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI)

Valmark Advisers Inc. bought a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 18,794 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock, valued at approximately $325,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. by 44.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,420,007 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $205,356,000 after acquiring an additional 2,907,099 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 119.8% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,541,784 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $26,858,000 after purchasing an additional 840,251 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 59.4% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,555,382 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $33,907,000 after acquiring an additional 579,460 shares in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the third quarter valued at approximately $10,817,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC increased its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 282.1% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 150,793 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $3,287,000 after buying an additional 111,330 shares in the last quarter. 69.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David A. Friedman sold 8,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.00, for a total transaction of $149,976.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 108,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,950,192. The trade was a 7.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 16,664 shares of company stock valued at $301,785 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Telsey Advisory Group cut their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Levi Strauss & Co. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.27.

Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Performance

NYSE LEVI opened at $18.09 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $7.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.17. 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. has a 1-year low of $15.62 and a 1-year high of $24.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $17.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.20.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. Levi Strauss & Co. had a return on equity of 25.88% and a net margin of 3.32%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 12th. Levi Strauss & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

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.