Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.75.

LEVI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th.

Levi Strauss & Co. Price Performance

Levi Strauss & Co. stock opened at $16.91 on Friday. Levi Strauss & Co. has a one year low of $14.70 and a one year high of $24.34. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $18.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.53, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.18.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 2nd. The blue-jean maker reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a return on equity of 24.43% and a net margin of 2.52%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.08%. Levi Strauss & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 136.84%.

Insider Transactions at Levi Strauss & Co.

In other news, Director David A. Friedman sold 25,002 shares of Levi Strauss & Co. stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total value of $500,040.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 229,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,583,520. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Levi Strauss & Co.

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 44.6% in 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 during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 2.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,555,997 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $171,034,000 after purchasing an additional 164,612 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 21.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,274,326 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $82,409,000 after purchasing an additional 756,926 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 2,083.0% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,923,206 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $37,079,000 after purchasing an additional 1,835,107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 59.4% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,555,382 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $33,907,000 after purchasing an additional 579,460 shares during the last quarter. 69.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Levi Strauss & Co.

Levi Strauss & Co designs, markets, and sells apparels and related accessories for men, women, and children worldwide. The company offers jeans, casual and dress pants, activewears, tops, shorts, skirts, dresses, jumpsuits, shirts, sweaters, jackets, footwear, and related accessories under the Levi's, Dockers, Signature by Levi Strauss & Co, Denizen, and Beyond Yoga brands.