Ameriprise Financial Inc. Sells 372,454 Shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Free Report) by 26.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,043,675 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock after selling 372,454 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 0.26% of Levi Strauss & Co. worth $18,056,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 114,442 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $1,980,000 after buying an additional 892 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 54,151 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $937,000 after buying an additional 1,283 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 32.9% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,103 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $209,000 after purchasing an additional 2,998 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at $82,000. 69.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on LEVI shares. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group raised their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $20.45.

Levi Strauss & Co. Trading Up 3.4%

LEVI traded up $0.59 during trading on Thursday, reaching $17.91. The company had a trading volume of 2,273,335 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,165,677. The stock has a market cap of $7.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.44, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.89. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 52 week low of $12.17 and a 52 week high of $24.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 7th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a return on equity of 25.88% and a net margin of 3.32%. Levi Strauss & Co.'s revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 24th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 24th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.90%. Levi Strauss & Co.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.43%.

Levi Strauss & Co. Profile

Levi Strauss & Co engages in the design, marketing, and sale of apparel products. The company offers jeans, casual and dress pants, tops, shorts, skirts, jackets, footwear, and related accessories. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, and Asia. The company was founded by Levi Strauss in 1853 and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA.