American Century Companies Inc. Sells 1,396,804 Shares of Levi Strauss & Co. $LEVI

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. reduced its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 86.9%, selling 1,396,804 shares and maintaining ownership of just 211,449 shares worth approximately $3,296,000.
• Several institutional investors have made new investments in Levi Strauss & Co., with the total institutional ownership now at 69.14%.
• Levi Strauss & Co. reported earnings of $0.22 per share for the latest quarter, exceeding estimates, and announced a dividend increase from $0.13 to $0.14 per share.

American Century Companies Inc. reduced its holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Free Report) by 86.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 211,449 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock after selling 1,396,804 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Levi Strauss & Co. worth $3,296,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV purchased a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in the 4th quarter worth $7,180,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 87.6% in the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 53,967 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $841,000 after purchasing an additional 25,197 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. in the first quarter worth about $402,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 143.6% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 29,479 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $460,000 after purchasing an additional 17,376 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. in the first quarter worth about $3,259,000. 69.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Levi Strauss & Co. Trading Down 0.1%

Levi Strauss & Co. stock traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $22.49. The company had a trading volume of 855,260 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,475,449. The firm has a market cap of $8.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.48. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 1 year low of $12.17 and a 1 year high of $22.83. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $20.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.95.

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

Levi Strauss & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 24th were issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 24th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from Levi Strauss & Co.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Levi Strauss & Co.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company 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.