Brokerages Set Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Target Price at $20.56

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $20.56.

Several research firms recently issued reports on LEVI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $17.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. TheStreet upgraded Levi Strauss & Co. from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th.

Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of LEVI stock opened at $19.72 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The business has a fifty day moving average of $18.64 and a 200 day moving average of $16.40. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 1 year low of $12.41 and a 1 year high of $22.39.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 3rd. The blue-jean maker reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.05. Levi Strauss & Co. had a return on equity of 20.68% and a net margin of 2.05%. The business had revenue of $1.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.34 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 8th. Levi Strauss & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 154.84%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Bradley J. Haas sold 14,015 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.05, for a total value of $309,030.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Bradley J. Haas sold 14,015 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.05, for a total value of $309,030.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David A. Friedman sold 35,415 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total value of $708,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 179,430 shares in the company, valued at $3,588,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 168,727 shares of company stock worth $3,275,016 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.14% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Levi Strauss & Co.

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LEVI. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 10.1% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 94,237 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $1,884,000 after purchasing an additional 8,652 shares during the last quarter. Washington Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the first quarter worth about $330,000. BTC Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the first quarter worth about $294,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda grew its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 577.3% during the fourth quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda now owns 30,709 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $508,000 after purchasing an additional 26,175 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,391,385 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $138,794,000 after purchasing an additional 97,043 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.14% of the company’s stock.

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.