Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Sets New 1-Year Low – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $15.57 and last traded at $15.64, with a volume of 516678 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $16.36.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on LEVI shares. Citigroup cut their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Telsey Advisory Group lowered their price target on 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 lowered their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.27.

Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $6.38 billion, a PE ratio of 30.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $17.78 and a 200-day moving average of $18.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

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

Levi Strauss & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 12th. Levi Strauss & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Levi Strauss & Co. news, Director David A. Friedman sold 4,166 shares of Levi Strauss & Co. stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.44, for a total transaction of $76,821.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 100,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,844,221.28. The trade was a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 3.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Levi Strauss & Co.

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 44.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,420,007 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $205,356,000 after purchasing an additional 2,907,099 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,824,983 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $152,672,000 after purchasing an additional 133,978 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,673,056 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $115,444,000 after purchasing an additional 81,435 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 53.7% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,916,568 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $33,157,000 after purchasing an additional 669,624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 560.0% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,883,995 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $32,593,000 after purchasing an additional 1,598,523 shares in the last quarter. 69.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.