Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) Stock Price

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG - Free Report) had its target price cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $23.00 to $22.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Conagra Brands from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Bank of America downgraded Conagra Brands from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $27.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Conagra Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $26.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Morgan Stanley set a $22.00 target price on Conagra Brands in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Conagra Brands from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $24.73.

Conagra Brands Stock Performance

Shares of CAG traded down $0.68 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $19.70. The stock had a trading volume of 17,486,070 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,892,356. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $22.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.59. Conagra Brands has a fifty-two week low of $18.39 and a fifty-two week high of $33.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.95, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.11.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.88 billion. Conagra Brands had a net margin of 2.80% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Conagra Brands will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.11%. Conagra Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 205.88%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Conagra Brands

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Conagra Brands by 2.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,403,845 shares of the company's stock worth $1,610,971,000 after buying an additional 1,604,893 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Conagra Brands by 6.3% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,859,985 shares of the company's stock worth $316,306,000 after buying an additional 698,630 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Conagra Brands by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,745,629 shares of the company's stock worth $325,096,000 after buying an additional 231,477 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Conagra Brands by 49.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,162,251 shares of the company's stock worth $217,686,000 after buying an additional 2,702,407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in Conagra Brands by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 8,135,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $225,746,000 after purchasing an additional 2,058,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.75% of the company's stock.

About Conagra Brands

Conagra Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a consumer packaged goods food company primarily in the United States. The company operates through Grocery & Snacks, Refrigerated & Frozen, International, and Foodservice segments. The Grocery & Snacks segment primarily offers shelf stable food products through various retail channels.