Quest Partners LLC Sells 3,763 Shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI)

Quest Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) by 18.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,392 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock after selling 3,763 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. were worth $357,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the second quarter worth approximately $8,552,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,555,997 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $171,034,000 after buying an additional 164,612 shares in the last quarter. Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP bought a new position in Levi Strauss & Co. in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,219,000. Shellback Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in the 2nd quarter valued at $482,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the third quarter worth $1,673,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Levi Strauss & Co. Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE LEVI opened at $16.32 on Monday. Levi Strauss & Co. has a twelve month low of $14.70 and a twelve month high of $24.34. The stock has a market cap of $6.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company’s fifty day moving average is $18.47 and its 200-day moving average is $19.65.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 2nd. The blue-jean maker reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th were given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 29th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Levi Strauss & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 136.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David A. Friedman sold 25,002 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director now 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.