Argent Trust Co Increases Stake in Leggett & Platt, Incorporated (NYSE:LEG)

Argent Trust Co grew its stake in Leggett & Platt, Incorporated (NYSE:LEG) by 0.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 92,949 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 800 shares during the quarter. Argent Trust Co owned 0.07% of Leggett & Platt worth $2,963,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Leggett & Platt by 35.5% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,506,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $510,661,000 after acquiring an additional 3,803,469 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Leggett & Platt during the 4th quarter worth about $30,894,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Leggett & Platt by 453.3% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 713,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,837,000 after acquiring an additional 584,700 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Leggett & Platt by 98.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 909,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,635,000 after acquiring an additional 451,175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Leggett & Platt by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 14,575,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $507,226,000 after acquiring an additional 406,267 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on LEG. StockNews.com began coverage on Leggett & Platt in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Truist Financial cut their price target on Leggett & Platt from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.67.

Leggett & Platt Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LEG traded down $0.32 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $26.79. The company had a trading volume of 160,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,033,019. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.95 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $29.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.84. Leggett & Platt, Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $26.77 and a fifty-two week high of $39.63.

Leggett & Platt (NYSE:LEG) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 31st. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. Leggett & Platt had a net margin of 4.71% and a return on equity of 14.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.70 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Leggett & Platt, Incorporated will post 1.52 EPS for the current year.

Leggett & Platt Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.87%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th. Leggett & Platt’s payout ratio is currently 108.24%.

About Leggett & Platt

Leggett & Platt, Incorporated designs, manufactures, and markets engineered components and products worldwide. It operates through three segments: Bedding Products; Specialized Products; and Furniture, Flooring & Textile Products. The company offers steel rods, drawn wires, foam chemicals and additives, innersprings, private label finished mattresses, wire forms for mattress foundations, adjustable beds, industrial sewing and quilting machines, and mattress packaging and glue drying equipment, as well as machines to produce innersprings for industrial users of steel rods and wires, manufacturers of finished bedding, big box and e-commerce retailers, bedding brands and mattress retailers, department stores, and home improvement centers.