Bridgewater Associates LP Decreases Stock Position in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI)

Bridgewater Associates LP cut its holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) by 36.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,509 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock after selling 22,468 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. were worth $861,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LEVI. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. 272 Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in the 2nd quarter worth about $35,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in the 2nd quarter worth about $56,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in the 2nd quarter worth about $135,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in Levi Strauss & Co. in the 2nd quarter valued at about $195,000. 69.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LEVI. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Levi Strauss & Co. news, Director David A. Friedman sold 25,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total value of $500,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 229,176 shares in the company, valued at $4,583,520. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.14% of the company’s stock.

Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Up 3.3 %

LEVI opened at $17.46 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $18.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.45. The company has a market cap of $6.93 billion, a PE ratio of 45.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.18. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 1 year low of $14.70 and a 1 year high of $24.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.41.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 2nd. The blue-jean maker reported $0.33 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a net margin of 2.52% and a return on equity of 24.43%. The company’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.28 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. Levi Strauss & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 136.85%.

Levi Strauss & Co. Profile

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.