Campbell Soup (NASDAQ:CPB) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Campbell Soup (NASDAQ:CPB) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $48.18.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Campbell Soup from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $46.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Campbell Soup in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. StockNews.com cut shares of Campbell Soup from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Campbell Soup from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Campbell Soup from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blair William & Co. IL grew its position in shares of Campbell Soup by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 43,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,982,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC grew its position in shares of Campbell Soup by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 6,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. grew its position in shares of Campbell Soup by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 12,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $549,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund grew its position in shares of Campbell Soup by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 6,998 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Essex Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Campbell Soup by 5.5% in the first quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 5,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. 52.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Campbell Soup Price Performance

Campbell Soup stock opened at $49.14 on Thursday. Campbell Soup has a 52 week low of $37.94 and a 52 week high of $52.81. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $48.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The stock has a market cap of $14.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.18.

Campbell Soup (NASDAQ:CPB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.01. Campbell Soup had a net margin of 5.88% and a return on equity of 24.08%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Campbell Soup will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

About Campbell Soup

Campbell Soup Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets food and beverage products in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Meals & Beverages and Snacks segments. The Meals & Beverages segment engages in the retail and foodservice businesses in the United States and Canada.