Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Receives $23.45 Consensus PT from Analysts

Key Points

• Levi Strauss & Co. has received an average analyst rating of "Moderate Buy", with nine analysts recommending buy and two recommending hold for the stock.
• The company's recent quarterly earnings showed an EPS of $0.22, surpassing expectations and reflecting a 6.4% year-over-year revenue increase to $1.45 billion.
• Levi Strauss & Co. declared a quarterly dividend of $0.14 per share, up from the previous $0.13, representing a 2.6% dividend yield.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $23.4545.

LEVI has been the topic of several research reports. Telsey Advisory Group increased their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Citigroup increased their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Levi Strauss & Co.

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. XTX Topco Ltd raised its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 32,839 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $512,000 after purchasing an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 35.4% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 3,109 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 812 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 140.7% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,425 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 833 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its position in 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 valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,113 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 16,297 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $254,000 after acquiring an additional 1,133 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.14% of the company's stock.

Levi Strauss & Co. Trading Up 0.4%

LEVI traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $22.26. 1,497,681 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,483,527. The firm's fifty day moving average is $20.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.79. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 1-year low of $12.17 and a 1-year high of $22.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $8.81 billion, a PE ratio of 21.82, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.21.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.09. Levi Strauss & Co. had a return on equity of 28.75% and a net margin of 6.40%.The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.16 EPS. Levi Strauss & Co.'s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 24th were given a $0.14 dividend. 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 2.5%. This is an increase from Levi Strauss & Co.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Levi Strauss & Co.'s dividend payout ratio is 54.90%.

About Levi Strauss & Co.

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.