First Trust Advisors LP Sells 862,793 Shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its stake in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) by 24.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,609,471 shares of the company’s stock after selling 862,793 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.55% of Conagra Brands worth $72,413,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CAG. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Conagra Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $168,877,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in Conagra Brands in the fourth quarter worth $110,704,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Conagra Brands by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,161,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $309,728,000 after buying an additional 1,745,319 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,798,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,631,671,000 after buying an additional 1,132,839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC grew its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 114.5% in the 4th quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 1,927,141 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,478,000 after buying an additional 1,028,631 shares during the period. 83.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CAG shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Conagra Brands from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Conagra Brands in a research report on Monday, March 24th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $27.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Conagra Brands from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Conagra Brands from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Conagra Brands from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.90.

Conagra Brands Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Conagra Brands stock opened at $25.39 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.06 and a twelve month high of $33.24. The company has a market cap of $12.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.27. The company’s 50 day moving average is $25.78 and its 200 day moving average is $26.87.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. Conagra Brands had a return on equity of 13.76% and a net margin of 4.13%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.69 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Conagra Brands, Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.51%. Conagra Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 205.88%.

Conagra Brands Company Profile

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.