Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI – Get Rating) saw a significant increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,610,000 shares, an increase of 8.9% from the August 15th total of 6,990,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,930,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.9 days.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, EVP Seth Jaffe sold 12,782 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.75, for a total value of $239,662.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 148,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,780,606.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.
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Institutional Investors Weigh In On Levi Strauss & Co.
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LEVI. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 270,223 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $6,764,000 after acquiring an additional 49,017 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA boosted its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 81.5% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 31,226 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $782,000 after purchasing an additional 14,019 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 30.5% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 16,646 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 3,890 shares during the period. Level Four Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 76.0% in the fourth quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 19,958 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $500,000 after buying an additional 8,619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the fourth quarter worth $717,000. 17.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research analysts recently issued reports on LEVI shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $26.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 20th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Levi Strauss & Co. from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $19.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, August 4th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $31.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Friday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $22.00 to $23.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $26.27.
Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Performance
Shares of NYSE:LEVI traded down $0.70 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $17.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,983,799 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,834,786. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $6.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a 50-day moving average of $18.32 and a 200-day moving average of $18.30. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 12 month low of $15.61 and a 12 month high of $28.62.
Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 7th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.06. Levi Strauss & Co. had a net margin of 9.48% and a return on equity of 40.03%. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.54 earnings per share for the current year.
Levi Strauss & Co. Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 1st were given a $0.12 dividend. This is a boost from Levi Strauss & Co.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 29th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. Levi Strauss & Co.'s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.33%.
Levi Strauss & Co. Company Profile
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Levi Strauss & Co operates as an apparel company. The company designs, markets, and sells jeans, casual and dress pants, activewear, tops, shorts, skirts, dresses, jackets, footwear, and related accessories for men, women, and children in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. It also sells its products under the Levi's, Dockers, Signature by Levi Strauss & Co, and Denizen brands.
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