Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) Director Acquires $250,425.00 in Stock

Key Points

• Conagra director John Mulligan bought 17,500 shares at an average price of $14.31 on April 14, spending $250,425 and increasing his stake to 20,728 shares (a 542.13% increase).
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.35 (annualized $1.40) with an ex-dividend date of April 30, representing a yield of 9.9% and an unusually negative payout ratio of -1,400%.
• CAG trades around $14.09 (near its 12‑month low) after a slight quarterly EPS miss and carries a mixed analyst backdrop—an average rating of "Reduce" with a $16.07 price target.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG - Get Free Report) Director John Mulligan bought 17,500 shares of Conagra Brands stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $14.31 per share, for a total transaction of $250,425.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 20,728 shares in the company, valued at $296,617.68. This represents a 542.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Conagra Brands Trading Down 1.4%

CAG stock traded down $0.20 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $14.09. The company had a trading volume of 19,139,057 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,635,364. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $17.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.55. Conagra Brands has a 12 month low of $14.04 and a 12 month high of $25.77. The stock has a market cap of $6.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -140.84 and a beta of 0.04.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 1st. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.01). Conagra Brands had a positive return on equity of 10.15% and a negative net margin of 0.39%.The company had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Conagra Brands will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Conagra Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th will be given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 30th. Conagra Brands's payout ratio is -1,400.00%.

Institutional Trading of Conagra Brands

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CAG. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Conagra Brands during the 4th quarter worth $145,656,000. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its holdings in Conagra Brands by 239.6% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 8,347,163 shares of the company's stock worth $152,837,000 after acquiring an additional 5,889,542 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 245.5% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 7,734,061 shares of the company's stock valued at $141,611,000 after buying an additional 5,495,503 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 216.2% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,459,654 shares of the company's stock valued at $135,318,000 after buying an additional 5,100,424 shares during the period. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 241.9% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 5,915,490 shares of the company's stock valued at $108,313,000 after buying an additional 4,185,486 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CAG shares. Evercore dropped their price objective on shares of Conagra Brands from $19.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Conagra Brands from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $21.00 to $18.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lowered shares of Conagra Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $16.00 in a report on Thursday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $16.07.

Conagra Brands Company Profile

Conagra Brands, Inc is a leading packaged foods company based in Chicago, Illinois, with a broad portfolio of shelf-stable, frozen and refrigerated foods marketed under familiar brands. The company develops, produces and distributes a wide range of consumer food products, serving both retail grocery and foodservice channels. Conagra's product lineup includes frozen entrees, snacks, condiments, baking goods and desserts, providing convenient meal solutions for consumers across North America and select international markets.

Among its well-known brands are Birds Eye, Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine, Marie Callender's and Banquet in the frozen foods category, as well as Hunt's sauces, Orville Redenbacher's popcorn, Slim Jim meat snacks and Reddi-wip toppings.

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