Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd Takes Position in Levi Strauss & Co. $LEVI

Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 165,000 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock, valued at approximately $3,051,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LEVI. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. by 123,970.4% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,163,649 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $58,496,000 after acquiring an additional 3,166,203 shares during the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,322,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 44.0% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,243,680 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $88,014,000 after buying an additional 1,296,474 shares during the last quarter. Oberweis Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. in the 3rd quarter valued at about $21,052,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 83.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,958,271 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $36,208,000 after buying an additional 890,752 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LEVI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Citigroup raised their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Levi Strauss & Co. from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Levi Strauss & Co. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Levi Strauss & Co.

In other news, major shareholder E. Haas Jr. Family Fund Peter sold 145,662 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.01, for a total value of $3,497,344.62. Following the sale, the insider owned 145,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,497,344.62. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder Robert D. Haas sold 488,851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.11, for a total transaction of $11,786,197.61. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 1,468,570 shares of company stock valued at $34,136,152 over the last three months. 1.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Levi Strauss & Co. Price Performance

Levi Strauss & Co. stock opened at $24.88 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.50. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 12 month low of $17.72 and a 12 month high of $24.96. The company has a market cap of $9.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.84, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 7th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.05. Levi Strauss & Co. had a return on equity of 25.35% and a net margin of 9.52%.The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 22nd were paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 22nd. Levi Strauss & Co.’s payout ratio is currently 35.67%.

Levi Strauss & Co. Profile

Levi Strauss & Co is a global apparel company best known for its denim jeans and casual wear. Founded in 1853 in San Francisco by Bavarian immigrant Levi Strauss, the company pioneered the modern blue jean with the introduction of rivet-reinforced work pants. Over its more than 160-year history, Levi Strauss has evolved into a lifestyle brand, offering a broad portfolio that includes denim for men, women and children, as well as tops, outerwear, footwear and accessories.

The company’s flagship label, Levi’s®, is recognized worldwide for its iconic styles such as the 501® Original Fit Jeans, while additional brands, including Dockers®, Target core metric, and Denizen® by Levi’s, cater to diverse price points and consumer segments.