Alliancebernstein L.P. Sells 541,565 Shares of Conagra Brands $CAG

Key Points

• Alliancebernstein L.P. sold 541,565 shares of Conagra Brands, reducing its stake by 45.8%, leaving it with 641,317 shares valued at approximately $17.1 million.
• Other institutional investors, including Vanguard and Dimensional Fund Advisors, increased their positions in Conagra Brands during the same quarter.
• Conagra Brands reported earnings of $0.56 per share for the last quarter, which was below analysts' expectations, and had a revenue decline of 4.3% year-over-year.

Alliancebernstein L.P. reduced its position in Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG - Free Report) by 45.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 641,317 shares of the company's stock after selling 541,565 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 0.13% of Conagra Brands worth $17,104,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,604,893 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 698,630 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Conagra Brands by 49.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,162,251 shares of the company's stock valued at $217,686,000 after purchasing an additional 2,702,407 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its holdings in Conagra Brands by 33.9% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 4,191,555 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.75% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CAG. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $21.00 price objective on shares of Conagra Brands and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Conagra Brands from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Conagra Brands from $26.00 to $21.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on 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 investment 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $22.17.

Conagra Brands Stock Up 0.5%

Conagra Brands stock opened at $19.46 on Friday. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $19.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $9.32 billion, a PE ratio of 8.14, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.07. Conagra Brands has a fifty-two week low of $18.18 and a fifty-two week high of $33.04.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 9.92%.The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.61 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Conagra Brands will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 30th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 30th. Conagra Brands's payout ratio is presently 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.

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