Bridgewater Associates LP Trims Holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI)

Bridgewater Associates LP reduced its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) by 36.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,509 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock after selling 22,468 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. were worth $861,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LEVI. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 272 Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $135,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $195,000. 69.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on LEVI. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.75.

Levi Strauss & Co. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LEVI opened at $17.46 on Monday. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 1-year low of $14.70 and a 1-year high of $24.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $18.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.93 billion, a PE ratio of 45.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.18.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 2nd. The blue-jean maker reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.02. Levi Strauss & Co. had a return on equity of 24.43% and a net margin of 2.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. Levi Strauss & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 136.85%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David A. Friedman sold 4,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.15, for a total transaction of $79,778.90. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 154,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,952,508.70. This trade represents a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.14% of the company’s stock.

About Levi Strauss & Co.

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.