The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Purchases 273,247 Shares of Levi Strauss & Co. $LEVI

Key Points

• The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 14.3%, acquiring a total of 2,189,815 shares valued at approximately $34.14 million.
• Multiple analysts have raised their price targets for Levi Strauss & Co., with the consensus now at $23.45 and nine analysts rating the stock as a "Buy."
• Levi Strauss & Co. reported a 6.4% year-over-year revenue increase, achieving $1.45 billion in revenue during its recent quarter and declaring a higher quarterly dividend of $0.14 per share.

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Free Report) by 14.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,189,815 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock after purchasing an additional 273,247 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.55% of Levi Strauss & Co. worth $34,139,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LEVI. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 25,197 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in Levi Strauss & Co. in the first quarter worth about $402,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 143.6% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 29,479 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $460,000 after buying an additional 17,376 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the first quarter worth about $3,259,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP increased its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 511.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 106,281 shares during the period. 69.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Down 1.3%

LEVI traded down $0.30 during trading on Friday, reaching $22.25. 1,570,953 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,479,854. The stock has a market cap of $8.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.25. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $20.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.98. Levi Strauss & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $12.17 and a fifty-two week high of $22.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 24th were given 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 yield of 2.5%. Levi Strauss & Co.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on LEVI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $24.00 target price (up previously from $20.00) on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $23.45.

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.