Bridgewater Associates LP Invests $1.09 Million in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

Bridgewater Associates LP bought a new stake in shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 33,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,091,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CAG. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Conagra Brands by 21,015.0% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,654,828 shares of the company’s stock valued at $346,495,000 after purchasing an additional 10,604,367 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in Conagra Brands by 1,362.6% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,406,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,400,000 after purchasing an additional 2,242,186 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Conagra Brands by 20.5% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 11,013,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $313,004,000 after purchasing an additional 1,871,238 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its stake in Conagra Brands by 148.2% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 2,535,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,048,000 after purchasing an additional 1,513,726 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Conagra Brands by 2,552.2% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,289,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,943,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241,121 shares during the last quarter. 83.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Conagra Brands Stock Up 0.4 %

Conagra Brands stock opened at $27.55 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $13.15 billion, a PE ratio of 26.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $29.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.78. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.21 and a twelve month high of $33.24.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 2nd. The company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.84 billion. Conagra Brands had a net margin of 4.14% and a return on equity of 13.71%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Conagra Brands, Inc. will post 2.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Conagra Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.08%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Conagra Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 135.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on CAG. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Conagra Brands in a research note on Monday, August 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Conagra Brands from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Conagra Brands from $34.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Conagra Brands to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of Conagra Brands in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.63.

Conagra Brands Company 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.