Leggett & Platt (NYSE:LEG) Reaches New 52-Week Low on Analyst Downgrade

Leggett & Platt, Incorporated (NYSE:LEG) shares hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday after Truist Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $18.00 to $16.00. Truist Financial currently has a hold rating on the stock. Leggett & Platt traded as low as $18.21 and last traded at $18.21, with a volume of 657446 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.69.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. TheStreet downgraded Leggett & Platt from a “c” rating to a “d+” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. StockNews.com downgraded Leggett & Platt from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Leggett & Platt currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.33.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Leggett & Platt

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Leggett & Platt by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,633,812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $530,332,000 after purchasing an additional 685,740 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Leggett & Platt by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,952,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $508,564,000 after purchasing an additional 239,935 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Leggett & Platt by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,996,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $340,107,000 after purchasing an additional 49,086 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Leggett & Platt by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,231,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,888,000 after purchasing an additional 405,363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Leggett & Platt by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,373,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,127,000 after purchasing an additional 262,145 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.23% of the company’s stock.

Leggett & Platt Stock Up 4.9 %

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.47. The firm has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.96 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.49.

Leggett & Platt (NYSE:LEG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. Leggett & Platt had a negative net margin of 2.90% and a positive return on equity of 11.99%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Leggett & Platt, Incorporated will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

Leggett & Platt Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. Leggett & Platt’s payout ratio is -184.00%.

Leggett & Platt Company Profile

Leggett & Platt, Incorporated designs, manufactures, and sells engineered components and products in the United States, Europe, China, Canada, Mexico, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Bedding Products; Specialized Products; and Furniture, Flooring & Textile Products. The company offers steel rods, drawn wires, specialty foam chemicals and additives, innersprings, specialty foam for use in bedding and furniture, private label finished mattresses, ready-to-assemble mattress foundations, static foundations, and adjustable beds, as well as machines for producing innersprings; industrial sewing and quilting machines; mattress-packaging; and glue-drying equipment for various industrial users of steel rod and wire, manufacturers of finished bedding, bedding brands and mattress retailers, E-commerce retailers, big box retailers, department stores, and home improvement centers.