141,604 Shares in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Bought by Raymond James Financial Inc.

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 141,604 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock, valued at approximately $2,450,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 946,998 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $16,383,000 after buying an additional 152,590 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. during the fourth quarter worth $511,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. during the fourth quarter worth $1,415,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,608,253 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $27,823,000 after buying an additional 219,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Savoir Faire Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. by 55.6% during the fourth quarter. Savoir Faire Capital Management L.P. now owns 188,714 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $3,265,000 after buying an additional 67,401 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LEVI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $22.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $17.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $19.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.18.

Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE LEVI opened at $15.80 on Wednesday. Levi Strauss & Co. has a one year low of $12.17 and a one year high of $24.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $15.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.25 billion, a PE ratio of 30.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.07.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 7th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.10. Levi Strauss & Co. had a return on equity of 25.88% and a net margin of 3.32%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 24th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Levi Strauss & Co.’s payout ratio is 58.43%.

Insider Activity at Levi Strauss & Co.

In related news, Director David A. Friedman sold 4,166 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.44, for a total transaction of $76,821.04. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 100,012 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,844,221.28. The trade was a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Levi Strauss & Co.

Levi Strauss & Co engages in the design, marketing, and sale of apparel products. The company offers jeans, casual and dress pants, tops, shorts, skirts, jackets, footwear, and related accessories. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, and Asia. The company was founded by Levi Strauss in 1853 and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA.