Brandes Investment Partners LP Purchases Shares of 4,954 Campbell Soup (NYSE:CPB)

Brandes Investment Partners LP purchased a new stake in Campbell Soup (NYSE:CPB) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Campbell Soup by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 305,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,154,000 after purchasing an additional 36,108 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Campbell Soup by 326.8% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 249,316 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,778,000 after acquiring an additional 190,901 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Campbell Soup by 7.2% during the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 213,155 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,756,000 after acquiring an additional 14,271 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Campbell Soup by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 670,468 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,984,000 after acquiring an additional 51,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Savoir Faire Capital Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Campbell Soup by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Savoir Faire Capital Management L.P. now owns 107,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,637,000 after acquiring an additional 3,588 shares in the last quarter. 52.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CPB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Campbell Soup from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Campbell Soup in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $49.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Campbell Soup in a report on Thursday, February 1st. They set a “sell” rating and a $41.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Campbell Soup from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Campbell Soup in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.35.

Campbell Soup Price Performance

Campbell Soup stock traded down $0.24 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $45.79. 402,714 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,577,537. The company’s fifty day moving average is $44.41 and its 200-day moving average is $43.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market cap of $13.65 billion, a PE ratio of 17.98, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.23. Campbell Soup has a 52 week low of $37.94 and a 52 week high of $52.12.

Campbell Soup (NYSE:CPB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 6th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.44 billion. Campbell Soup had a net margin of 8.26% and a return on equity of 23.18%. Campbell Soup’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Campbell Soup will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Campbell Soup Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 3rd. Campbell Soup’s payout ratio is 57.81%.

About Campbell Soup

Campbell Soup Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets food and beverage products in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Meals & Beverages and Snacks segments. The Meals & Beverages segment engages in the retail and foodservice businesses in the United States and Canada.