Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) Shares Acquired by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) by 21,015.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,654,828 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,604,367 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Conagra Brands were worth $346,495,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Conagra Brands by 1,362.6% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,406,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,400,000 after purchasing an additional 2,242,186 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Conagra Brands by 20.5% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 11,013,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $313,004,000 after purchasing an additional 1,871,238 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its position in Conagra Brands by 148.2% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 2,535,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,048,000 after purchasing an additional 1,513,726 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Conagra Brands by 2,552.2% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,289,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,943,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its position in Conagra Brands by 523.8% during the 2nd quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 1,446,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214,859 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on CAG. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Conagra Brands from $34.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. BNP Paribas upgraded Conagra Brands to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Conagra Brands in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Conagra Brands from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Conagra Brands in a report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price target for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Conagra Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.63.

Conagra Brands Stock Performance

Conagra Brands stock opened at $27.12 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $29.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.94 billion, a PE ratio of 26.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.94. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $26.21 and a one year high of $33.24.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 2nd. The company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.84 billion. Conagra Brands had a return on equity of 13.71% and a net margin of 4.14%. The business’s revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Conagra Brands, Inc. will post 2.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. Conagra Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 135.92%.

Conagra Brands Profile

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.