Conagra Brands (CAG) Stock Rating Upgraded by Sanford C. Bernstein

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) was upgraded by equities researchers at Sanford C. Bernstein from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on CAG. BidaskClub lowered shares of Conagra Brands from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 26th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Conagra Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Sunday, October 29th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Credit Suisse Group cut their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 25th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Conagra Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Conagra Brands in a research report on Tuesday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.37.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) traded down $0.21 on Thursday, hitting $37.34. 3,420,900 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,471,830. The stock has a market cap of $15,339.10, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.51. Conagra Brands has a 12-month low of $32.16 and a 12-month high of $41.68.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 28th. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.79 billion. Conagra Brands had a net margin of 7.83% and a return on equity of 18.35%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.37 EPS. research analysts forecast that Conagra Brands will post 1.89 earnings per share for the current year.

In other Conagra Brands news, EVP Colleen Batcheler sold 120,451 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.50, for a total transaction of $4,516,912.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 211,514 shares in the company, valued at $7,931,775. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. IndexIQ Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 0.4% during the second quarter. IndexIQ Advisors LLC now owns 9,828 shares of the company’s stock valued at $352,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Conning Inc. raised its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 0.6% during the second quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 11,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $415,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 1.8% during the second quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 8,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $318,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. MUFG Americas Holdings Corp raised its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 1.5% during the second quarter. MUFG Americas Holdings Corp now owns 13,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $494,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 0.8% during the second quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 27,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $974,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.03% of the company’s stock.

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About Conagra Brands

Conagra Brands, Inc, formerly ConAgra Foods, Inc, operates as a packaged food company. The Company operates through two segments: Consumer Foods and Commercial Foods. The Company sells branded and customized food products, as well as commercially branded foods. It also supplies vegetable, spice and grain products to a range of restaurants, foodservice operators and commercial customers.