Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Price Target Raised to $22.00 at Telsey Advisory Group

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) had its price target lifted by Telsey Advisory Group from $18.00 to $22.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the blue-jean maker’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. TheStreet upgraded Levi Strauss & Co. from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group raised their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $17.10.

Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of LEVI stock opened at $19.37 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s 50 day moving average is $17.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 12-month low of $12.41 and a 12-month high of $19.49.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The blue-jean maker reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.66 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a return on equity of 22.33% and a net margin of 4.04%. Levi Strauss & Co.’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.34 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 6th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.48%. Levi Strauss & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Levi Strauss & Co. news, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Tracy Layney sold 15,894 shares of Levi Strauss & Co. stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.02, for a total value 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 $705,785.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Margaret E. Haas sold 9,462 shares of Levi Strauss & Co. stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.01, for a total value of $170,410.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 58,875 shares of company stock valued at $1,045,240 over the last quarter. 3.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Levi Strauss & Co.

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in the third quarter valued at $2,834,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 7.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,626,322 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $117,145,000 after buying an additional 610,838 shares in the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. grew its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 306.8% in the third quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 45,916 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $624,000 after buying an additional 34,629 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 1.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,913,865 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $80,310,000 after buying an additional 105,924 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG grew its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 121.7% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 493,505 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $6,702,000 after buying an additional 270,870 shares in the last quarter. 69.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.