Northern Trust Corp Trims Stock Position in Conagra Brands $CAG

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp reduced its stake in Conagra Brands by 4.4%, selling 229,020 shares to hold approximately 1.03% of the company, valued at $131.2 million.
• Conagra Brands faced negative analyst ratings, with multiple brokerages downgrading the stock and lowering their price targets, leading to an average rating of "Hold" with a target price of $22.17.
• The company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the last quarter, missing estimates and showing a 4.3% decline in revenue compared to the previous year.

Northern Trust Corp cut its stake in Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG - Free Report) by 4.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,920,080 shares of the company's stock after selling 229,020 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.03% of Conagra Brands worth $131,219,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Conagra Brands by 2.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,403,845 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,610,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,604,893 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Conagra Brands by 6.3% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,859,985 shares of the company's stock valued at $316,306,000 after purchasing an additional 698,630 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Conagra Brands by 49.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,162,251 shares of the company's stock valued at $217,686,000 after purchasing an additional 2,702,407 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in Conagra Brands by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 8,135,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $225,746,000 after purchasing an additional 2,058,000 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Conagra Brands by 51.6% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,664,293 shares of the company's stock valued at $157,184,000 after purchasing an additional 1,928,883 shares during the period. 83.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on CAG shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Conagra Brands from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $21.00 price objective on shares of Conagra Brands and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Conagra Brands from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Conagra Brands from $26.00 to $21.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Conagra Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Monday, June 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $22.17.

Conagra Brands Price Performance

CAG traded up $0.34 on Wednesday, hitting $19.13. 7,514,243 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,034,129. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.71. The business's fifty day moving average is $19.72 and its 200 day moving average is $22.87. Conagra Brands has a fifty-two week low of $18.18 and a fifty-two week high of $33.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.08.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.05). Conagra Brands had a return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 9.92%.The company had revenue of $2,781,800 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.61 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Conagra Brands will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 30th. Conagra Brands's dividend payout ratio is 58.58%.

About Conagra Brands

Conagra Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a consumer packaged goods food company primarily in the United States. The company operates through Grocery & Snacks, Refrigerated & Frozen, International, and Foodservice segments. The Grocery & Snacks segment primarily offers shelf stable food products through various retail channels.