69,592 Shares in Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) Acquired by ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V.

Key Points

• ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. acquired 69,592 shares of Conagra Brands, valued at approximately $1,856,000, marking a significant investment during the first quarter as per their 13F filing.
• Conagra Brands reported $0.56 earnings per share for the last quarter, missing analysts' expectations by $0.05 and indicating a 4.3% decline in revenue year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.35 per share, with a yield of 7.3%, set to be distributed on August 28th to shareholders of record by July 30th.

ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. bought a new position in shares of Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 69,592 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,856,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAG. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in Conagra Brands by 33.9% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 8,135,000 shares of the company's stock worth $225,746,000 after purchasing an additional 2,058,000 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in Conagra Brands by 51.6% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,664,293 shares of the company's stock worth $157,184,000 after buying an additional 1,928,883 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Conagra Brands by 560.1% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,042,766 shares of the company's stock worth $54,480,000 after buying an additional 1,733,297 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Conagra Brands by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,403,845 shares of the company's stock worth $1,610,971,000 after buying an additional 1,604,893 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Conagra Brands by 5,102.8% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,216,421 shares of the company's stock worth $32,442,000 after buying an additional 1,193,041 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.75% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on CAG. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Conagra Brands from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and cut their price target for the company from $27.00 to $20.00 in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Conagra Brands from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 12th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Conagra Brands from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Conagra Brands currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $22.58.

Conagra Brands Price Performance

NYSE CAG traded up $0.15 on Wednesday, reaching $19.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,193,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,671,888. The firm has a market cap of $9.40 billion, a PE ratio of 8.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.08. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $20.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.31. Conagra Brands has a 52 week low of $18.18 and a 52 week high of $33.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.05). Conagra Brands had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 12.52%. The firm had revenue of $2,781,800 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.61 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Conagra Brands will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 30th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.1%. Conagra Brands's payout ratio is currently 58.58%.

About Conagra Brands

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.