Machina Capital S.A.S. Makes New Investment in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

Machina Capital S.A.S. purchased a new position in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 20,094 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $558,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Conagra Brands by 7.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,484,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $796,229,000 after acquiring an additional 1,691,945 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Conagra Brands by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,514,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,180,000 after acquiring an additional 196,100 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 21,015.0% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,654,828 shares of the company’s stock worth $346,495,000 after purchasing an additional 10,604,367 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 2.0% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 6,290,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,571,000 after purchasing an additional 122,590 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Conagra Brands from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Conagra Brands from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Conagra Brands from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Conagra Brands from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut Conagra Brands from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Conagra Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.33.

Conagra Brands Stock Up 4.9 %

Shares of CAG stock opened at $27.25 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $25.82 and a 200 day moving average of $28.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market cap of $13.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.18. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.06 and a twelve month high of $33.24.

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

Conagra Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 27th were given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.14%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, January 27th. Conagra Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 137.25%.

Conagra Brands Company 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.