Atria Investments Inc Lowers Position in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

Atria Investments Inc cut its holdings in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) by 58.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 42,988 shares of the company’s stock after selling 61,418 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Conagra Brands were worth $1,398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAG. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in Conagra Brands by 1,362.6% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,406,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,400,000 after acquiring an additional 2,242,186 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Conagra Brands by 20.5% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 11,013,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $313,004,000 after acquiring an additional 1,871,238 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its stake in Conagra Brands by 148.2% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 2,535,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,048,000 after acquiring an additional 1,513,726 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Conagra Brands by 2,552.2% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,289,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,943,000 after acquiring an additional 1,241,121 shares during the period. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY lifted its stake in Conagra Brands by 523.8% in the second quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 1,446,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,117,000 after acquiring an additional 1,214,859 shares during the period. 83.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Conagra Brands from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Conagra Brands in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price target for the company. BNP Paribas raised shares of Conagra Brands to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of Conagra Brands in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Conagra Brands from $34.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.63.

Conagra Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CAG opened at $26.69 on Friday. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.21 and a twelve month high of $33.24. The company’s 50 day moving average is $30.20 and its 200 day moving average is $30.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $12.74 billion, a PE ratio of 25.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.34.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 2nd. The company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.07). Conagra Brands had a return on equity of 13.71% and a net margin of 4.14%. The business had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. Conagra Brands’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Conagra Brands, Inc. will post 2.59 EPS for the current year.

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.25%. Conagra Brands’s payout ratio is 135.92%.

Conagra Brands Company Profile

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.