Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $23.38.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on LEVI shares. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. OTR Global started coverage on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a research report on Friday, June 14th. They issued a “positive” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th.

Levi Strauss & Co. Price Performance

LEVI stock opened at $18.83 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $18.53 and a 200-day moving average of $20.10. The company has a market cap of $7.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.80, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 12-month low of $12.41 and a 12-month high of $24.34.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.45 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a return on equity of 23.21% and a net margin of 2.34%. Levi Strauss & Co.’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.04 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 2nd were given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 2nd. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. This is an increase from Levi Strauss & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Levi Strauss & Co.’s payout ratio is currently 148.58%.

Insider Activity at Levi Strauss & Co.

In other news, Director David A. Friedman sold 4,166 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.37, for a total transaction of $80,695.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 162,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,147,818.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,498 shares of company stock worth $236,421. 3.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Levi Strauss & Co.

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LEVI. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,555,997 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $171,034,000 after purchasing an additional 164,612 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,625,378 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $109,584,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 21.5% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,274,326 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $82,409,000 after buying an additional 756,926 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 2,083.0% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,923,206 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $37,079,000 after acquiring an additional 1,835,107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,432,143 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $23,688,000 after acquiring an additional 242,882 shares during the period. 69.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.