Campbell Soup (NASDAQ:CPB) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

Campbell Soup (NASDAQ:CPB) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Thursday.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Campbell Soup in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Campbell Soup from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Campbell Soup from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Barclays raised their price target on Campbell Soup from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Campbell Soup from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Campbell Soup currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.69.

Campbell Soup Stock Performance

Campbell Soup stock opened at $49.49 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $49.39 and its 200-day moving average is $46.23. The company has a market cap of $14.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.18. 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 has a 12 month low of $37.94 and a 12 month high of $52.81.

Campbell Soup (NASDAQ:CPB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.01. Campbell Soup had a return on equity of 24.08% and a net margin of 5.88%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Campbell Soup will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Campbell Soup

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CPB. LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of Campbell Soup by 5,022.5% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,438,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,187,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390,700 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Campbell Soup by 16.6% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,548,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $379,983,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,301 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its position in Campbell Soup by 4,419.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 732,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,103,000 after buying an additional 716,320 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB acquired a new position in Campbell Soup during the first quarter valued at $30,128,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Campbell Soup by 21.2% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,315,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $147,375,000 after buying an additional 580,411 shares during the period. 52.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.