Wells Fargo & Company Upgrades Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) to Overweight

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) was upgraded by Wells Fargo & Company from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report released on Wednesday,Finviz reports. The brokerage presently has a $20.00 target price on the blue-jean maker’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 26.62% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on LEVI. Bank of America upgraded Levi Strauss & Co. from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $20.00 in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Telsey Advisory Group cut their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $23.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Levi Strauss & Co. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.45.

Levi Strauss & Co. Price Performance

Levi Strauss & Co. stock opened at $15.80 on Wednesday. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 52-week low of $12.17 and a 52-week high of $24.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $15.81 and its 200 day moving average is $16.99. The company has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.38, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.07.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 7th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a net margin of 3.32% and a return on equity of 25.88%. The business’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David A. Friedman sold 4,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.44, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Xcel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,710,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 87.6% during the 1st quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 53,967 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $841,000 after purchasing an additional 25,197 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH boosted its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 92,372 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $1,440,000 after purchasing an additional 7,303 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 116,131 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $1,810,000 after buying an additional 1,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,639,565 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $26,856,000 after buying an additional 97,781 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.14% of the company’s stock.

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.