Campbell Soup (NASDAQ:CPB) Shares Sold by Kentucky Retirement Systems

Kentucky Retirement Systems reduced its stake in Campbell Soup (NASDAQ:CPB) by 7.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,727 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,099 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Campbell Soup were worth $672,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Campbell Soup by 6.7% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 36,487 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,785,000 after acquiring an additional 2,277 shares during the period. Lifeworks Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Campbell Soup by 6.7% in the third quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 139,529 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,826,000 after acquiring an additional 8,812 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in Campbell Soup by 35.3% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,090 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 545 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Campbell Soup by 1.1% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 177,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,671,000 after buying an additional 2,015 shares during the period. Finally, ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd boosted its position in shares of Campbell Soup by 6.5% during the third quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 196,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,596,000 after buying an additional 12,000 shares during the period. 52.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CPB shares. StockNews.com upgraded Campbell Soup from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Campbell Soup from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Campbell Soup from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Campbell Soup from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Campbell Soup from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Campbell Soup has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.58.

Campbell Soup Stock Performance

CPB opened at $43.53 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.19. Campbell Soup has a 1-year low of $39.65 and a 1-year high of $52.81. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $47.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.22.

Campbell Soup (NASDAQ:CPB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. Campbell Soup had a return on equity of 24.08% and a net margin of 5.88%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Campbell Soup will post 3.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Campbell Soup Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 3rd were issued a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 3rd. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. Campbell Soup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.31%.

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.