Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG – Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Conagra Brands from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Friday, January 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Conagra Brands from a hold rating to a sell rating and lifted their price target for the company from $33.00 to $34.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Conagra Brands from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, January 6th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Conagra Brands from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, December 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Conagra Brands from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Conagra Brands presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $40.64.

Conagra Brands Price Performance

Shares of Conagra Brands stock opened at $35.52 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.24. Conagra Brands has a twelve month low of $31.01 and a twelve month high of $41.30. The firm has a market cap of $16.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.55.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 5th. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.15. Conagra Brands had a net margin of 5.66% and a return on equity of 14.38%. The business had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Conagra Brands will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Conagra Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 30th were paid a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 27th. Conagra Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Robert G. Wise sold 50,000 shares of Conagra Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.90, for a total transaction of $2,045,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 22,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $929,125.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Conagra Brands

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Securian Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 39,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,275,000 after buying an additional 286 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 32,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,113,000 after buying an additional 292 shares during the period. Czech National Bank grew its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 56,097 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,171,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the period. Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. grew its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. now owns 8,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $283,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the period. Finally, Utah Retirement Systems grew its holdings in Conagra Brands by 0.4% during the third quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 83,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,737,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.08% of the company’s stock.

About Conagra Brands

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Conagra Brands, Inc engages in the manufacture and sale of processed and packaged foods. It operates through the following segments: Grocery and Snacks, Refrigerated and Frozen, International, and Foodservice. The Grocery and Snacks segment includes branded, shelf stable food products sold in various retail channels in the United States.