Brokerages Set Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) PT at $23.45

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $23.4545.

LEVI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Bank of America upped their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group increased their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. XTX Topco Ltd raised its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 2.1% in the first quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 32,839 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $512,000 after purchasing an additional 670 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 35.4% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 3,109 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 812 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 140.7% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,425 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 833 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 101.5% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,210 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 1,113 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 7.5% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 16,297 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $254,000 after acquiring an additional 1,133 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.14% of the company’s stock.

Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Up 0.6%

Levi Strauss & Co. stock opened at $23.23 on Friday. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 1-year low of $12.17 and a 1-year high of $23.41. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $21.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.78, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.25.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 10th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a net margin of 6.40% and a return on equity of 28.75%. Levi Strauss & Co.’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.16 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 24th were issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 24th. This is a boost from Levi Strauss & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Levi Strauss & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.90%.

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.