Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $28.67.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Conagra Brands from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $26.00 in a report on Monday, February 24th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Conagra Brands from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Conagra Brands from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of Conagra Brands in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Conagra Brands from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th.

Conagra Brands Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE CAG opened at $25.54 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $12.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.04, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Conagra Brands has a 12-month low of $23.06 and a 12-month high of $33.24. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.39.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. Conagra Brands had a return on equity of 13.76% and a net margin of 4.13%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.15 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. Conagra Brands’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Conagra Brands will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Monday, January 27th were given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, January 27th. Conagra Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 137.25%.

Institutional Trading of Conagra Brands

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in Conagra Brands by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 399,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,085,000 after purchasing an additional 62,187 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Conagra Brands by 110.8% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 36,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,196,000 after acquiring an additional 19,329 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its holdings in Conagra Brands by 41.0% in the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 78,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,175,000 after acquiring an additional 22,790 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Conagra Brands by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 12,285,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $341,048,000 after acquiring an additional 618,096 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new position in Conagra Brands in the third quarter worth about $1,020,000. 83.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.