Levi Strauss & Co. $LEVI Shares Purchased by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Key Points

• Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 11.1% in the first quarter, now holding over 1 million shares valued at approximately $16.4 million.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Levi Strauss & Co., with projections ranging from $23.00 to $28.00, indicating a consensus average target price of $23.45.
• Levi Strauss & Co. reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.22, exceeding analyst expectations, along with a year-over-year revenue increase of 6.4%.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Free Report) by 11.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,051,720 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock after acquiring an additional 104,722 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.27% of Levi Strauss & Co. worth $16,396,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 53.7% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,916,568 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $33,157,000 after acquiring an additional 669,624 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 560.0% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,883,995 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $32,593,000 after acquiring an additional 1,598,523 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 6.3% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,639,565 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $26,856,000 after buying an additional 97,781 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,341,317 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $23,205,000 after buying an additional 137,933 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Levi Strauss & Co. during the first quarter worth about $19,779,000. 69.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Levi Strauss & Co. Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of LEVI traded up $0.10 on Thursday, hitting $22.26. 1,497,681 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,031,315. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.21. The stock's 50 day moving average is $20.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.82. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 1 year low of $12.17 and a 1 year high of $22.36.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.16 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current 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. 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. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Levi Strauss & Co.'s payout ratio is currently 54.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on LEVI. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "buy" 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $23.45.

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.