Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 3,597 Shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 573,789 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,597 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Conagra Brands were worth $18,660,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CAG. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 20.5% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 11,013,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $313,004,000 after purchasing an additional 1,871,238 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Conagra Brands by 17.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,313,994 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,602,000 after acquiring an additional 633,794 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its position in Conagra Brands by 148.2% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 2,535,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,048,000 after acquiring an additional 1,513,726 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 1,362.6% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,406,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,400,000 after acquiring an additional 2,242,186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 3.5% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,294,468 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,209,000 after purchasing an additional 78,487 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CAG. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Conagra Brands in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Conagra Brands in a report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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 report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America dropped their target price 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. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Conagra Brands to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Six investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Conagra Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.63.

Conagra Brands Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:CAG opened at $27.46 on Friday. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $26.62 and a 12 month high of $33.24. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $13.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.66, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.34. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.07.

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

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.10%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. 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.