Natixis Sells 5,693 Shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

Natixis trimmed its stake in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 52,740 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,693 shares during the quarter. Natixis’ holdings in Conagra Brands were worth $1,464,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CAG. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Conagra Brands by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,798,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,631,671,000 after acquiring an additional 1,132,839 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 12,285,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $341,048,000 after purchasing an additional 618,096 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Conagra Brands by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,745,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $325,096,000 after purchasing an additional 231,477 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Conagra Brands by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,161,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $309,728,000 after purchasing an additional 1,745,319 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Conagra Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $168,877,000. Institutional investors own 83.75% of the company’s stock.

Conagra Brands Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE CAG opened at $25.48 on Wednesday. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.06 and a 52 week high of $33.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $25.79 and its 200 day moving average is $26.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.98, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.27.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Conagra Brands had a net margin of 4.13% and a return on equity of 13.76%. Conagra Brands’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.69 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Conagra Brands, Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Conagra Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.49%. Conagra Brands’s payout ratio is 205.88%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on CAG. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Conagra Brands from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Conagra Brands from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Conagra Brands in a research note on Monday, March 24th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $27.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Conagra Brands from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Conagra Brands from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.90.

Conagra Brands Profile

Conagra Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a consumer packaged goods food company primarily in the United States. The company operates through Grocery & Snacks, Refrigerated & Frozen, International, and Foodservice segments. The Grocery & Snacks segment primarily offers shelf stable food products through various retail channels.