Bayforest Capital Ltd Buys New Position in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI)

Key Points

• Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. worth approximately $402,000 by purchasing 25,798 shares during the first quarter.
• Recent analyst upgrades for LEVI stock include target price increases by Barclays, Citigroup, and Bank of America, with a consensus target price reaching $23.45 and a rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Levi Strauss & Co. declared an increased quarterly dividend of $0.14 per share, reflecting a 7.7% rise from the previous dividend of $0.13.

Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 25,798 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock, valued at approximately $402,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of LEVI. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 560.0% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,883,995 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $32,593,000 after purchasing an additional 1,598,523 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 1,079.9% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,432,127 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $24,776,000 after purchasing an additional 1,310,748 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the 1st quarter worth $19,779,000. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 164.4% during the 4th quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 1,312,150 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $22,700,000 after purchasing an additional 815,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fund 1 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the 4th quarter worth $11,869,000. 69.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LEVI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $24.00 price objective (up from $20.00) on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Levi Strauss & Co. presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $23.45.

Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Up 3.2%

Shares of NYSE LEVI traded up $0.62 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $19.86. 1,143,979 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,542,773. The company has a market cap of $7.86 billion, a PE ratio of 19.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.21. Levi Strauss & Co. has a one year low of $12.17 and a one year high of $22.35. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $18.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.47. 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. (NYSE:LEVI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.16 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 24th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 24th. This is a positive change from Levi Strauss & Co.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Levi Strauss & Co.'s payout ratio is presently 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.