Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Price Target Cut to $20.00 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) had its target price trimmed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $21.00 to $20.00 in a research note published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the blue-jean maker’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on LEVI. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. OTR Global initiated coverage on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a report on Friday, June 14th. They issued a positive rating for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Levi Strauss & Co. presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $22.33.

Levi Strauss & Co. Price Performance

Shares of LEVI stock opened at $19.59 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $22.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.28. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 12 month low of $12.41 and a 12 month high of $24.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $7.80 billion, a PE ratio of 63.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.19.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.45 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a net margin of 2.05% and a return on equity of 20.68%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.04 EPS. Analysts predict that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 9th were paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 8th. Levi Strauss & Co.’s payout ratio is currently 154.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Levi Strauss & Co. news, major shareholder Bradley J. Haas sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.05, for a total value of $2,405,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, major shareholder Bradley J. Haas sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.05, for a total transaction of $2,405,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David A. Friedman sold 10,422 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total value of $208,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 169,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,380,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 772,263 shares of company stock valued at $17,256,670 in the last three months. 3.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,626,322 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $117,145,000 after purchasing an additional 610,838 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $171,034,000 after buying an additional 164,612 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,625,378 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $109,584,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the fourth quarter worth about $24,325,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,432,143 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $23,688,000 after buying an additional 242,882 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.14% of the company’s stock.

Levi Strauss & Co. Company 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.