Kentucky Retirement Systems Decreases Holdings in Campbell Soup (NYSE:CPB)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lowered its stake in Campbell Soup (NYSE:CPB) by 4.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,941 shares of the company’s stock after selling 776 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Campbell Soup were worth $664,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CPB. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Campbell Soup during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp purchased a new stake in Campbell Soup during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Campbell Soup by 3,760.9% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 888 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 865 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in Campbell Soup by 79.9% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 449 shares during the period. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Campbell Soup by 10,366.7% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $519,000 after purchasing an additional 1,244 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.35% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CPB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Campbell Soup from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $42.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $47.00 price objective on shares of Campbell Soup in a research note on Friday, June 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Campbell Soup from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $45.00 to $52.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Campbell Soup from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Campbell Soup from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.56.

Campbell Soup Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CPB traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $46.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 560,936 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,652,927. Campbell Soup has a fifty-two week low of $37.94 and a fifty-two week high of $48.63. The company has a market capitalization of $14.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.24. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.20.

Campbell Soup (NYSE:CPB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 5th. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.05. Campbell Soup had a return on equity of 23.26% and a net margin of 7.85%. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Campbell Soup will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Campbell Soup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 3rd. Campbell Soup’s payout ratio is 59.92%.

About Campbell Soup

Campbell Soup Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets food and beverage products in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Meals & Beverages and Snacks segments. The Meals & Beverages segment engages in the retail and foodservice businesses in the United States and Canada.