Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 1,149,381 Shares of Conagra Brands $CAG

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD has reduced its stake in Conagra Brands by 8.7%, selling over 1.1 million shares, now holding approximately 12.1 million shares valued at $322.3 million.
• Conagra Brands reported a miss in quarterly earnings, with EPS of $0.56, falling short of the $0.61 consensus estimate, and a 4.3% decline in revenue year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.35 per share, with an upcoming ex-dividend date of July 30, representing a 7.1% annual yield.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD decreased its position in Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG - Free Report) by 8.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,085,755 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,149,381 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 2.53% of Conagra Brands worth $322,328,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CAG. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 49.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,162,251 shares of the company's stock worth $217,686,000 after purchasing an additional 2,702,407 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 33.9% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 8,135,000 shares of the company's stock worth $225,746,000 after purchasing an additional 2,058,000 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 51.6% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,664,293 shares of the company's stock worth $157,184,000 after purchasing an additional 1,928,883 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 560.1% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,042,766 shares of the company's stock worth $54,480,000 after purchasing an additional 1,733,297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,403,845 shares of the company's stock worth $1,610,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,604,893 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $26.00 to $21.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 11th. Bank of America lowered shares of Conagra Brands from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $27.00 to $20.00 in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Conagra Brands from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 11th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Conagra Brands from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Conagra Brands from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 12th. One equities 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $22.17.

Conagra Brands Trading Down 1.9%

Conagra Brands stock traded down $0.36 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $18.81. 7,461,468 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,054,789. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.87, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.71. Conagra Brands has a fifty-two week low of $18.18 and a fifty-two week high of $33.24. The firm's 50 day moving average is $19.67 and its 200-day moving average is $22.85.

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

Conagra Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 30th. Conagra Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.58%.

Conagra Brands Company Profile

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.