Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Receives $20.56 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $20.56.

Several equities analysts recently commented on LEVI shares. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $17.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th.

Insider Activity at Levi Strauss & Co.

In related news, EVP Tracy Layney sold 15,894 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.02, for a total transaction of $270,515.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 41,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,785.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Tracy Layney sold 15,894 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.02, for a total transaction of $270,515.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 41,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,785.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Margaret E. Haas sold 9,462 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.01, for a total transaction of $170,410.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 168,727 shares of company stock valued at $3,275,016. Corporate insiders own 3.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LEVI. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,626,322 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $117,145,000 after purchasing an additional 610,838 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,391,385 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $138,794,000 after purchasing an additional 97,043 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,625,378 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $109,584,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 5,989,518 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $109,189,000 after buying an additional 626,601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,913,865 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $80,310,000 after buying an additional 105,924 shares in the last quarter. 69.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of LEVI opened at $20.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.43. The company has a market capitalization of $8.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.32, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.56. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 1 year low of $12.41 and a 1 year high of $22.39.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The blue-jean maker reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.05. Levi Strauss & Co. had a net margin of 2.05% and a return on equity of 20.68%. The firm had revenue of $1.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.34 earnings per share. Levi Strauss & Co.’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 8th. Levi Strauss & Co.’s payout ratio is 154.84%.

About Levi Strauss & Co.

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.