Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Holdings in Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Tyson Foods by 0.7%, owning about 10.10% of the company, valued at approximately $2.29 billion.
• Tyson Foods reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.91, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenue of $13.88 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, set to be paid on December 15th, representing a 3.5% dividend yield.

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN - Free Report) by 0.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,961,408 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 247,051 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 10.10% of Tyson Foods worth $2,294,697,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Tyson Foods by 11.3% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,399 shares of the company's stock worth $408,000 after acquiring an additional 651 shares in the last quarter. Tabor Asset Management LP purchased a new position in Tyson Foods during the 1st quarter worth $2,180,000. VELA Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Tyson Foods by 45.6% in the first quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 17,678 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,128,000 after purchasing an additional 5,537 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Tyson Foods by 54.2% in the first quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 14,861 shares of the company's stock valued at $948,000 after buying an additional 5,226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Global Investments boosted its stake in shares of Tyson Foods by 212.8% during the first quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 230,921 shares of the company's stock worth $14,735,000 after buying an additional 157,092 shares during the period. 67.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on TSN. Wall Street Zen downgraded Tyson Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Tyson Foods from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Tyson Foods in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $67.00 price objective on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Tyson Foods from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $74.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Bernstein Bank downgraded shares of Tyson Foods to a "market perform" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $74.00 to $59.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Thirteen 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 currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $61.33.

Tyson Foods Price Performance

Shares of TSN stock traded up $1.24 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $57.68. 2,587,263 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,731,613. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $54.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.57. The firm has a market cap of $20.52 billion, a PE ratio of 26.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Tyson Foods, Inc. has a 1-year low of $51.85 and a 1-year high of $66.88.

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

Tyson Foods announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, August 7th that authorizes the company to buyback 43,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Tyson Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. Tyson Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.91%.

About Tyson Foods

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.