Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Shares Sold by State Street Corp

State Street Corp reduced its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 600,692 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock after selling 7,388 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned 0.15% of Levi Strauss & Co. worth $13,095,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in LEVI. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. 272 Capital LP purchased a new position in Levi Strauss & Co. in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. in the second quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 2,904.1% during the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 5,137 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $112,000 after purchasing an additional 4,966 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the second quarter worth $135,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on LEVI shares. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Levi Strauss & Co. news, Director David A. Friedman sold 8,332 shares of Levi Strauss & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.00, for a total value of $149,976.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 108,344 shares in the company, valued at $1,950,192. The trade was a 7.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE:LEVI opened at $17.44 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.41. The company has a market capitalization of $6.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.18. Levi Strauss & Co. has a one year low of $14.87 and a one year high of $24.34. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.81.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last released its 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. Levi Strauss & Co. had a return on equity of 24.43% and a net margin of 2.52%. The company had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.28 EPS. Levi Strauss & Co.’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Dividend Announcement

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

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.