Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Stake in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 555,850 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,939 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Conagra Brands worth $15,425,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in Conagra Brands during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Conagra Brands by 65.4% during the fourth quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 1,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 447 shares during the period. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Conagra Brands during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Conagra Brands during the third quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Conagra Brands during the fourth quarter worth $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on CAG shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Conagra Brands from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Conagra Brands from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Conagra Brands from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Conagra Brands from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Conagra Brands from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.67.

Conagra Brands Stock Performance

Shares of CAG opened at $26.12 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $26.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.46. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $23.06 and a one year high of $33.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $12.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.28.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.15 billion. Conagra Brands had a return on equity of 13.76% and a net margin of 4.13%. The company’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Conagra Brands, Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 27th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.36%. Conagra Brands’s payout ratio is currently 137.25%.

About Conagra Brands

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.