Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Invests $926,000 in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 32,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $926,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Conagra Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $140,473,000. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 26.2% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,889,319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,694,000 after acquiring an additional 392,305 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB bought a new stake in Conagra Brands during the 1st quarter worth $47,980,000. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its holdings in Conagra Brands by 523.8% in the 2nd quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 1,446,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Conagra Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $36,069,000. 83.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on CAG shares. Citigroup cut their price target on Conagra Brands from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Conagra Brands from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Conagra Brands from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Conagra Brands from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.90.

Conagra Brands Price Performance

CAG stock opened at $31.76 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $15.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.50, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.32. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.84. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.16 and a 12-month high of $33.24.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 11th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.04. Conagra Brands had a return on equity of 14.31% and a net margin of 2.88%. The company had revenue of $2.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.62 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Conagra Brands, Inc. will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. Conagra Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 191.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Conagra Brands news, COO Thomas M. Mcgough sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.29, for a total value of $1,211,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 161,443 shares in the company, valued at $4,890,108.47. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.