Bayforest Capital Ltd Takes 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) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 25,798 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock, valued at approximately $402,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,180,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake 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 during the period. Savoir Faire Capital Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 55.6% during the fourth quarter. Savoir Faire Capital Management L.P. now owns 188,714 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $3,265,000 after buying an additional 67,401 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 143.6% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 29,479 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $460,000 after buying an additional 17,376 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP increased its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 511.8% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 127,046 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $2,198,000 after buying an additional 106,281 shares during the period. 69.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LEVI. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. UBS Group upped their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $23.45.

Levi Strauss & Co. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LEVI traded down $0.48 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $19.21. 2,833,993 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,610,820. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 12-month low of $12.17 and a 12-month high of $22.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $7.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.83, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.21. The business's fifty day moving average price is $18.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.47.

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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a return on equity of 28.75% and a net margin of 6.40%. Levi Strauss & Co.'s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.16 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 24th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. This is an increase from Levi Strauss & Co.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 24th. Levi Strauss & Co.'s payout ratio is currently 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.