Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 1,470,700 Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI)

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,470,700 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock, valued at approximately $24,325,000. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned 0.37% of Levi Strauss & Co. as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. boosted its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 17,000 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 30.6% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,636 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 851 shares during the period. Strategic Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 18,600 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $253,000 after buying an additional 927 shares during the period. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 34,037 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $528,000 after buying an additional 941 shares during the period. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 83,660 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $1,136,000 after buying an additional 1,043 shares during the period. 69.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Bradley J. Haas sold 14,015 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.05, for a total transaction of $309,030.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Bradley J. Haas sold 14,015 shares of Levi Strauss & Co. stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.05, for a total transaction of $309,030.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David A. Friedman sold 10,422 shares of Levi Strauss & Co. stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total transaction of $208,440.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 169,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,380,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 168,727 shares of company stock worth $3,275,016 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.14% of the company's stock.

Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Performance

Levi Strauss & Co. stock remained flat at $20.55 during mid-day trading on Monday. 5,064,825 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,557,020. Levi Strauss & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $12.41 and a fifty-two week high of $22.39. The firm has a market cap of $8.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $18.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.16.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The blue-jean maker reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a net margin of 2.05% and a return on equity of 20.68%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.34 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 8th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. Levi Strauss & Co.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 154.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group upped their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. TheStreet upgraded Levi Strauss & Co. from a "c+" rating to a "b-" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group upped their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Levi Strauss & Co. has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $20.40.

Levi Strauss & Co. Company Profile

Levi Strauss & Co designs, markets, and sells apparels and related accessories for men, women, and children worldwide. The company offers jeans, casual and dress pants, activewears, tops, shorts, skirts, dresses, jumpsuits, shirts, sweaters, jackets, footwear, and related accessories under the Levi's, Dockers, Signature by Levi Strauss & Co, Denizen, and Beyond Yoga brands.