BNP Paribas Financial Markets Raises Stake in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) by 274.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 33,657 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,669 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. were worth $734,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. by 44.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,420,007 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $205,356,000 after purchasing an additional 2,907,099 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 2,083.0% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,923,206 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $37,079,000 after buying an additional 1,835,107 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 2,070.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,431,518 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $27,600,000 after buying an additional 1,365,574 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 6,794.9% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,244,873 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $24,001,000 after buying an additional 1,226,818 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 21.5% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,274,326 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $82,409,000 after acquiring an additional 756,926 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David A. Friedman sold 25,002 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total value of $500,040.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 229,176 shares in the company, valued at $4,583,520. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Levi Strauss & Co. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LEVI opened at $17.37 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.89 billion, a PE ratio of 45.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.18. Levi Strauss & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $14.87 and a fifty-two week high of $24.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.41.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 2nd. The blue-jean maker reported $0.33 earnings per share (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 firm 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. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 29th. Levi Strauss & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 136.84%.

Levi Strauss & Co. Company Profile

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.