Aristeia Capital L.L.C. Makes New $516,000 Investment in Levi Strauss & Co. $LEVI

Key Points

• Aristeia Capital L.L.C. acquired 33,082 shares of Levi Strauss & Co., representing an investment of approximately $516,000 in the first quarter, as disclosed in their recent 13F filing with the SEC.
• Multiple analysts have raised their target prices for Levi Strauss & Co., with Morgan Stanley setting it at $19.00 and UBS Group increasing it to $28.00, indicating strong market expectations for the company's performance.
• Levi Strauss & Co. recently announced a dividend increase to $0.14 per share, representing an annual yield of 2.5%, reflecting positive financial growth with a 6.4% year-over-year revenue increase.

Aristeia Capital L.L.C. bought a new position in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 33,082 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock, valued at approximately $516,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. XTX Topco Ltd increased its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 2.1% during the first quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 32,839 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $512,000 after acquiring an additional 670 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 35.4% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 3,109 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 812 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 101.5% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,210 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 1,113 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. by 7.5% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 16,297 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $254,000 after buying an additional 1,133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. by 1.5% in the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 116,131 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $1,810,000 after buying an additional 1,689 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LEVI. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Telsey Advisory Group upped their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $24.00 target price (up from $20.00) on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Levi Strauss & Co. currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $23.45.

Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LEVI traded down $0.15 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $21.93. 1,928,770 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,768,462. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $21.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.12. The firm has a market cap of $8.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.50, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.25. Levi Strauss & Co. has a twelve month low of $12.17 and a twelve month high of $22.83.

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

Levi Strauss & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 24th were given a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. This is a positive change from Levi Strauss & Co.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 24th. Levi Strauss & Co.'s payout ratio is currently 54.90%.

About Levi Strauss & Co.

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.