Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Conagra Brands Call Options (NYSE:CAG)

Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors bought 15,336 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 492% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,589 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CAG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Conagra Brands from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Conagra Brands from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 12th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 28th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Conagra Brands from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Conagra Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Conagra Brands

In other news, COO Thomas M. Mcgough sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.29, for a total transaction of $1,211,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 161,443 shares in the company, valued at $4,890,108.47. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Conagra Brands

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Conagra Brands during the fourth quarter worth $159,000. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 12,329 shares of the company’s stock valued at $353,000 after purchasing an additional 2,157 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,894 shares of the company’s stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 7,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 603 shares during the period. Finally, ING Groep NV grew its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 65,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,871,000 after buying an additional 5,443 shares in the last quarter. 83.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Conagra Brands Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE CAG traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $32.65. 639,055 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,644,440. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.33. Conagra Brands has a 12 month low of $25.16 and a 12 month high of $33.24. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.92. The company has a market capitalization of $15.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.32.

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

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.29%. Conagra Brands’s payout ratio is 191.78%.

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.