Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC Makes New $207,000 Investment in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 7,030 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CAG. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Conagra Brands by 11.5% during the third quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 35,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $976,000 after purchasing an additional 3,679 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Conagra Brands during the third quarter worth about $1,902,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 18.3% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,711,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,941,000 after buying an additional 264,601 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 7.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,663,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,625,000 after buying an additional 113,241 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 37.1% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,675,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,294,000 after buying an additional 2,619,372 shares in the last quarter. 83.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Conagra Brands from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Conagra Brands from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Citigroup upped their price target on Conagra Brands from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Conagra Brands from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.14.

Conagra Brands Price Performance

CAG stock opened at $28.67 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.41, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.32. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.16 and a twelve month high of $34.75. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 4th. The company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.05. Conagra Brands had a return on equity of 14.25% and a net margin of 7.86%. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Conagra Brands, Inc. will post 2.62 EPS for the current year.

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 29th. Conagra Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.35%.

Insider Transactions at Conagra Brands

In other news, EVP Charisse Brock sold 15,444 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.37, for a total transaction of $469,034.28. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 113,254 shares in the company, valued at $3,439,523.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

About Conagra Brands

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.