Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $29.78.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on CAG shares. Barclays dropped their target price on Conagra Brands from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Bank of America dropped their target price on Conagra Brands from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Conagra Brands from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Conagra Brands from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Conagra Brands from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th.

Conagra Brands Trading Up 3.9 %

NYSE:CAG opened at $25.82 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $12.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.31, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.52. Conagra Brands has a 12-month low of $23.06 and a 12-month high of $33.24.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for 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 for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Conagra Brands will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 27th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 27th. Conagra Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 137.25%.

Institutional Trading of Conagra Brands

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Conagra Brands by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,798,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,631,671,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132,839 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Conagra Brands by 7.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,484,277 shares of the company’s stock valued at $796,229,000 after purchasing an additional 1,691,945 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Conagra Brands by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 12,285,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $341,048,000 after purchasing an additional 618,096 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Conagra Brands by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,745,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $325,096,000 after purchasing an additional 231,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Conagra Brands by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,161,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $309,728,000 after purchasing an additional 1,745,319 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.75% of the company’s stock.

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.