Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. Buys Shares of 595,215 Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI)

Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 595,215 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock, valued at approximately $10,297,000. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.15% of Levi Strauss & Co. at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,824,983 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $152,672,000 after acquiring an additional 133,978 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,673,056 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $115,444,000 after acquiring an additional 81,435 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,608,253 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $27,823,000 after purchasing an additional 219,546 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 119.8% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,541,784 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $26,858,000 after buying an additional 840,251 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 1,079.9% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,432,127 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $24,776,000 after buying an additional 1,310,748 shares during the period. 69.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LEVI. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $19.00 to $14.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Levi Strauss & Co. from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $19.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Levi Strauss & Co. presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $19.18.

Insider Activity at Levi Strauss & Co.

In other Levi Strauss & Co. news, Director David A. Friedman sold 4,166 shares of Levi Strauss & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.44, for a total transaction of $76,821.04. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 100,012 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,844,221.28. The trade was a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Levi Strauss & Co. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LEVI traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $16.06. 604,434 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,143,079. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.42. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $15.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.07. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 52 week low of $12.17 and a 52 week high of $24.34. The company has a market cap of $6.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.07.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 7th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a net margin of 3.32% and a return on equity of 25.88%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 24th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. Levi Strauss & Co.'s payout ratio is 58.43%.

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.