Trexquant Investment LP Purchases 20,492 Shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

Trexquant Investment LP grew its holdings in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) by 23.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 109,198 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,492 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in Conagra Brands were worth $3,030,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CAG. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Conagra Brands by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,798,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,631,671,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132,839 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,484,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $796,229,000 after buying an additional 1,691,945 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 12,285,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $341,048,000 after buying an additional 618,096 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Conagra Brands by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,745,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $325,096,000 after buying an additional 231,477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Conagra Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $168,877,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.75% of the company’s stock.

Conagra Brands Stock Performance

Shares of CAG stock opened at $26.71 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $25.74 and a 200-day moving average of $27.40. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $23.06 and a one year high of $33.24. The stock has a market cap of $12.75 billion, a PE ratio of 26.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.22.

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

Conagra Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.24%. Conagra Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 205.88%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CAG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Conagra Brands in a research report on Monday, March 24th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $27.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Conagra Brands from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of Conagra Brands in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Conagra Brands from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Conagra Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.20.

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.