Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Cuts Stock Position in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lessened its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) by 3.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,627,860 shares of the company’s stock after selling 937,222 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s holdings in Conagra Brands were worth $700,331,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CAG. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Conagra Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $140,473,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB acquired a new position in Conagra Brands in the 1st quarter valued at about $47,980,000. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in Conagra Brands by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 8,426,955 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,517,000 after buying an additional 1,330,249 shares during the period. Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Conagra Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $36,069,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in Conagra Brands by 618.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 443,135 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,700,000 after acquiring an additional 381,423 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on CAG shares. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Conagra Brands from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Conagra Brands from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Conagra Brands from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Conagra Brands from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Conagra Brands from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Conagra Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.18.

Conagra Brands Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE CAG traded up $0.41 on Friday, reaching $29.94. 3,518,765 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,617,913. The company has a market cap of $14.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.27. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.16 and a 12 month high of $33.39.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 11th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. Conagra Brands had a net margin of 2.88% and a return on equity of 14.31%. Conagra Brands’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.62 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Conagra Brands, Inc. will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Conagra Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.68%. Conagra Brands’s payout ratio is currently 191.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Charisse Brock sold 15,444 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.37, for a total value of $469,034.28. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 113,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,439,523.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Conagra Brands

Conagra Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a consumer packaged goods food company primarily in the United States. The company operates through Grocery & Snacks, Refrigerated & Frozen, International, and Foodservice segments. The Grocery & Snacks segment primarily offers shelf stable food products through various retail channels.