Teza Capital Management LLC Acquires New Position in Conagra Brands $CAG

Key Points

• Teza Capital Management LLC purchased 23,855 shares of Conagra Brands valued at approximately $636,000 during the first quarter.
• Conagra Brands reported Q2 earnings of $0.56 per share, missing estimates, with revenues falling by 4.3% year-over-year to $2.78 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.35 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 7.2%.

Teza Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 23,855 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $636,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 2.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,403,845 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,610,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,604,893 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 6.3% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,859,985 shares of the company's stock valued at $316,306,000 after acquiring an additional 698,630 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 49.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,162,251 shares of the company's stock valued at $217,686,000 after acquiring an additional 2,702,407 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 8,135,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $225,746,000 after acquiring an additional 2,058,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 233.7% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,985,256 shares of the company's stock valued at $159,625,000 after acquiring an additional 4,191,555 shares in the last quarter. 83.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CAG shares. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Conagra Brands from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Bank of America cut shares of Conagra Brands from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $27.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $26.00 to $21.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Conagra Brands presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $22.17.

Conagra Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Conagra Brands stock traded down $0.21 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $19.23. 3,460,000 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,094,433. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.07. Conagra Brands has a one year low of $18.18 and a one year high of $33.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.88 billion. Conagra Brands had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 12.52%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.61 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Conagra Brands will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 30th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 30th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.3%. Conagra Brands's payout ratio is 58.58%.

Conagra Brands Company Profile

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.