17,321 Shares in Levi Strauss & Co. $LEVI Acquired by Magnetar Financial LLC

Key Points

• Magnetar Financial LLC acquired 17,321 shares of Levi Strauss & Co. valued at approximately $270,000 in the first quarter, indicating growing interest from institutional investors in the company's stock.
• Levi Strauss & Co. reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, along with a revenue of $1.45 billion, which was above analysts' expectations.
• Analysts have upgraded their ratings with target prices increased by firms like Bank of America and JPMorgan, suggesting a positive outlook for the stock with an average target price of $23.45.

Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 17,321 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. by 87.6% during the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 53,967 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $841,000 after buying an additional 25,197 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. during the first quarter worth about $402,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. by 143.6% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 29,479 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $460,000 after buying an additional 17,376 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. during the first quarter worth about $3,259,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. by 511.8% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 127,046 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $2,198,000 after buying an additional 106,281 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.14% of the company's stock.

Levi Strauss & Co. Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:LEVI traded down $0.30 during trading on Friday, reaching $22.25. The stock had a trading volume of 1,570,953 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,826,059. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $20.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $8.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.81, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.25. Levi Strauss & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $12.17 and a fifty-two week high of $22.83.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 10th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a net margin of 6.40% and a return on equity of 28.75%. The company's revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.16 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 24th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. This is a positive change from Levi Strauss & Co.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 24th. Levi Strauss & Co.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LEVI has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $23.45.

Levi Strauss & Co. Company 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.