Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI)

Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 13,500 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 7.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,626,322 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $117,145,000 after purchasing an additional 610,838 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 1.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,294,342 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $112,637,000 after purchasing an additional 90,776 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 1.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,913,865 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $80,310,000 after purchasing an additional 105,924 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,325,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,423,553 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $23,546,000 after purchasing an additional 95,797 shares during the last quarter. 69.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LEVI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group boosted their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.56.

Levi Strauss & Co. Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:LEVI opened at $21.73 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a 50 day moving average of $19.34 and a 200-day moving average of $16.93. Levi Strauss & Co. has a twelve month low of $12.41 and a twelve month high of $22.39. The firm has a market cap of $8.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.22.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The blue-jean maker reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.05. Levi Strauss & Co. had a net margin of 2.05% and a return on equity of 20.68%. The business had revenue of $1.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.34 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 9th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 8th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. Levi Strauss & Co.’s payout ratio is currently 154.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Bradley J. Haas sold 85,985 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.06, for a total transaction of $1,896,829.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director David A. Friedman sold 10,422 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total transaction of $208,440.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 169,008 shares in the company, valued at $3,380,160. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bradley J. Haas sold 85,985 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.06, for a total transaction of $1,896,829.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,712 shares of company stock worth $5,171,845 in the last ninety days. 3.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.