Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Holdings Raised by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,230,069 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,426 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.31% of Levi Strauss & Co. worth $26,816,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LEVI. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 166,736 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $3,635,000 after buying an additional 16,785 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,123,957 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $24,512,000 after acquiring an additional 20,870 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. during the third quarter worth approximately $832,000. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 73.9% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 149,947 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $3,269,000 after purchasing an additional 63,718 shares during the period. Finally, Intrepid Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 164.2% in the third quarter. Intrepid Capital Management Inc. now owns 103,227 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $2,250,000 after purchasing an additional 64,156 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on LEVI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.75.

Levi Strauss & Co. Price Performance

NYSE LEVI opened at $16.79 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 1 year low of $14.87 and a 1 year high of $24.34. The company has a market cap of $6.66 billion, a PE ratio of 44.19, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $17.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.05.

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 2.52% and a return on equity of 24.43%. 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 1.23 EPS for the current year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. Levi Strauss & Co.’s payout ratio is currently 136.84%.

Insider Transactions at Levi Strauss & Co.

In other news, Director David A. Friedman sold 8,332 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.00, for a total value of $149,976.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 108,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,950,192. This represents a 7.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 3.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Levi Strauss & Co. Profile

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.