Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 65,519 Shares of Levi Strauss & Co. $LEVI

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. sold 65,519 shares of Levi Strauss & Co., reducing its holdings by 0.7% to approximately 8.76 million shares, valued at around $136.56 million.
• Levi Strauss & Co. reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.22, surpassing analysts' expectations of $0.13, with a revenue increase of 6.4% year-over-year to $1.45 billion.
• The company also increased its quarterly dividend to $0.14 per share from $0.13, representing an annual yield of 2.7%.

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its position in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Free Report) by 0.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,759,464 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock after selling 65,519 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 2.21% of Levi Strauss & Co. worth $136,560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 101.5% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,210 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,113 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc bought a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in the first quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 35.4% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 3,109 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 812 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. during the fourth quarter worth $57,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 67.5% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 6,090 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 2,454 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group increased their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $23.45.

Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LEVI traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $21.44. The company had a trading volume of 1,457,094 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,496,992. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 1 year low of $12.17 and a 1 year high of $22.35. The company has a market capitalization of $8.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.21. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $19.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.71.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 10th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.37 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a return on equity of 28.75% and a net margin of 6.40%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.16 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 24th were issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This is a boost from Levi Strauss & Co.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 24th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. Levi Strauss & Co.'s payout ratio is currently 54.90%.

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.