JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Price Target to $21.00

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) had its price objective raised by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research report report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the blue-jean maker’s stock.

LEVI has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Telsey Advisory Group restated an outperform rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a report on Thursday. Bank of America increased their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. OTR Global initiated coverage on Levi Strauss & Co. in a report on Friday, June 14th. They issued a positive rating on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $22.75.

Levi Strauss & Co. Price Performance

NYSE LEVI opened at $19.82 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $19.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market cap of $7.88 billion, a PE ratio of 56.63, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.14. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 1 year low of $12.41 and a 1 year high of $24.34.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 2nd. The blue-jean maker reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 23.21%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.28 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 29th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.62%. Levi Strauss & Co.’s payout ratio is 148.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Levi Strauss & Co. news, Director David A. Friedman sold 4,166 shares of Levi Strauss & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.15, for a total value of $79,778.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 154,178 shares in the company, valued at $2,952,508.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director David A. Friedman sold 4,166 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.15, for a total value of $79,778.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 154,178 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,952,508.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director David A. Friedman sold 25,002 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total value of $500,040.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 229,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,583,520. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 33,334 shares of company stock worth $655,765. Insiders own 3.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. during the second quarter valued at about $8,552,000. Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 42,745 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $824,000 after purchasing an additional 743 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the 2nd quarter worth about $56,000. Susquehanna International Securities Ltd. bought a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $239,000. Finally, Scientech Research LLC acquired a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $361,000. Institutional investors own 69.14% of the company’s stock.

About Levi Strauss & Co.

Levi Strauss & Co designs, markets, and sells apparels and related accessories for men, women, and children worldwide. The company offers jeans, casual and dress pants, activewears, tops, shorts, skirts, dresses, jumpsuits, shirts, sweaters, jackets, footwear, and related accessories under the Levi's, Dockers, Signature by Levi Strauss & Co, Denizen, and Beyond Yoga brands.