Armistice Capital LLC Sells 330,000 Shares of Levi Strauss & Co. $LEVI

Key Points

• Armistice Capital LLC has reduced its holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. by 60.0%, now owning 220,000 shares valued at approximately $3.43 million.
• Levi Strauss reported earnings of $0.22 per share for the quarter, surpassing analyst expectations of $0.13 and showing a 6.4% revenue increase year-over-year.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.14 per share, reflecting a yield of 2.5% and a payout ratio of 54.90%.

Armistice Capital LLC lowered its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Free Report) by 60.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 220,000 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock after selling 330,000 shares during the quarter. Armistice Capital LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Levi Strauss & Co. worth $3,430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the 4th quarter worth about $7,180,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 87.6% in the 1st quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 53,967 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $841,000 after acquiring an additional 25,197 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. in the 1st quarter valued at about $402,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 143.6% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 29,479 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $460,000 after acquiring an additional 17,376 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,259,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on LEVI shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $24.00 price objective (up previously from $20.00) on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $23.45.

Levi Strauss & Co. Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE LEVI traded down $0.30 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $22.25. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,570,953 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,826,059. The stock has a market cap of $8.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Levi Strauss & Co. has a one year low of $12.17 and a one year high of $22.83. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $20.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.01.

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

Levi Strauss & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 24th were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 24th. This is a positive change from Levi Strauss & Co.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Levi Strauss & Co.'s payout ratio is 54.90%.

Levi Strauss & Co. 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.