Creative Planning Buys 9,490 Shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

Creative Planning grew its stake in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) by 6.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 165,064 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,490 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in Conagra Brands were worth $5,368,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CAG. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 1,362.6% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,406,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,400,000 after purchasing an additional 2,242,186 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 20.5% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 11,013,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $313,004,000 after purchasing an additional 1,871,238 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 148.2% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 2,535,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,048,000 after purchasing an additional 1,513,726 shares in the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY lifted its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 523.8% in the second quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 1,446,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 17.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,313,994 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,602,000 after purchasing an additional 633,794 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on CAG shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Conagra Brands from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Conagra Brands from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Conagra Brands in a report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas upgraded Conagra Brands to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on Conagra Brands from $34.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Thomas M. Mcgough sold 40,000 shares of Conagra Brands stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.29, for a total value of $1,211,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 161,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,890,108.47. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.51% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Conagra Brands Stock Performance

Shares of CAG opened at $29.35 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.01 billion, a PE ratio of 28.50, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $31.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.33. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.62 and a 1 year high of $33.24.

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

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. Conagra Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 135.92%.

About Conagra Brands

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.