Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) Hits New 52-Week Low - What's Next?

Key Points

• Shares of Conagra Brands hit a new 52-week low around $14.62 on heavy volume, leaving the stock near multi-year weakness with a market cap of about $6.8 billion.
• Analysts have been cutting targets and downgrading sentiment — the consensus is an average rating of "Reduce" (1 Buy, 12 Hold, 4 Sell) with an average target of $16.07 after recent price-target cuts.
• The company just announced a quarterly dividend of $0.35 (annualized yield ~9.8%), but the payout comes alongside a recent EPS miss, negative net margin and a deeply negative P/E, signaling elevated risk to the high yield.

Shares of Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $14.62 and last traded at $14.7150, with a volume of 1984999 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $15.18.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CAG. Zacks Research upgraded Conagra Brands from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered shares of Conagra Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $16.00 in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Conagra Brands from $18.00 to $14.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 30th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Conagra Brands from $19.00 to $17.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Conagra Brands from $19.00 to $17.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Conagra Brands presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $16.07.

Conagra Brands Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market cap of $6.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -142.54 and a beta of 0.04. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $17.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.60.

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

Conagra Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. Conagra Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently -1,400.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC bought a new position in Conagra Brands in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 80.4% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,573 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 701 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 844.4% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 1,596 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,427 shares during the period. MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new stake in shares of Conagra Brands in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 249.0% in the 3rd quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,724 shares of the company's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,230 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.75% of the company's stock.

About Conagra Brands

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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