Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Increases Stake in Levi Strauss & Co. $LEVI

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 stake in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Free Report) by 11.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,051,720 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock after purchasing an additional 104,722 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.27% of Levi Strauss & Co. worth $16,396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LEVI. Corbyn Investment Management Inc. MD raised its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Corbyn Investment Management Inc. MD now owns 239,476 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $3,733,000 after buying an additional 1,958 shares during the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Levi Strauss & Co. during the 1st quarter worth approximately $413,000. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft purchased a new position in Levi Strauss & Co. during the 1st quarter worth approximately $185,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Levi Strauss & Co. during the 1st quarter worth approximately $402,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd raised its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 32,839 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $512,000 after buying an additional 670 shares during the last quarter. 69.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on LEVI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $23.45.

Levi Strauss & Co. Price Performance

Levi Strauss & Co. stock opened at $21.2970 on Friday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $19.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.73. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 1 year low of $12.17 and a 1 year high of $22.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.21. 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 results on Thursday, July 10th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.09. Levi Strauss & Co. had a net margin of 6.40% and a return on equity of 28.75%. The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.16 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Increases Dividend

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

Levi Strauss & Co. Company 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.

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