Citigroup Inc. Buys 241,292 Shares of Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN)

Key Points

• Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in Tyson Foods by 104.7% in Q1, owning 471,762 shares worth approximately $30.1 million.
• Tyson Foods reported a Q2 EPS of $0.91, surpassing expectations and showing a 4% revenue growth year-over-year.
• The company announced a stock repurchase plan to buy back 43 million shares, indicating the board's belief that its shares are undervalued.

Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN - Free Report) by 104.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 471,762 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 241,292 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned 0.13% of Tyson Foods worth $30,103,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of TSN. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Tyson Foods by 4,207.2% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,635,237 shares of the company's stock valued at $104,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,597,272 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Tyson Foods by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 13,264,052 shares of the company's stock valued at $846,379,000 after acquiring an additional 1,271,750 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Tyson Foods by 5,809.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 461,665 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,459,000 after acquiring an additional 453,853 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in shares of Tyson Foods by 40.1% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,370,500 shares of the company's stock valued at $78,722,000 after acquiring an additional 392,200 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Tyson Foods during the 4th quarter valued at $22,059,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on TSN shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Tyson Foods from $62.00 to $58.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Tyson Foods from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Bernstein Bank lowered shares of Tyson Foods to a "market perform" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $74.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Tyson Foods in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. They set a "buy" rating and a $67.00 price target for the company. Finally, JP Morgan Cazenove decreased their price target on shares of Tyson Foods from $61.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $61.33.

Tyson Foods Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of NYSE TSN traded up $1.24 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $57.68. The stock had a trading volume of 2,587,402 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,770,344. Tyson Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $51.85 and a 12 month high of $66.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $20.52 billion, a PE ratio of 26.22, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.59. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $54.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.57.

Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.19. Tyson Foods had a net margin of 1.45% and a return on equity of 7.49%. The firm had revenue of $13.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. The business's revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Tyson Foods, Inc. will post 3.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Tyson Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Tyson Foods's dividend payout ratio is presently 90.91%.

Tyson Foods declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, August 7th that authorizes the company to buyback 43,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Tyson Foods Profile

Tyson Foods, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a food company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Beef, Pork, Chicken, and Prepared Foods. The company processes live fed cattle and hogs; fabricates dressed beef and pork carcasses into primal and sub-primal meat cuts, as well as case ready beef and pork, and fully cooked meats; raises and processes chickens into fresh, frozen, and value-added chicken products, including breaded chicken strips, nuggets, patties, and other ready-to-fix or fully cooked chicken parts; and supplies poultry breeding stock.