Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Acquires New Shares in Conagra Brands $CAG

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 46,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $631,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Conagra Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $145,656,000. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 239.6% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 8,347,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $152,837,000 after acquiring an additional 5,889,542 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 245.5% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 7,734,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,611,000 after purchasing an additional 5,495,503 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 216.2% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,459,654 shares of the company’s stock worth $135,318,000 after purchasing an additional 5,100,424 shares during the period. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 241.9% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 5,915,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,313,000 after purchasing an additional 4,185,486 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CAG shares. UBS Group increased their price target on Conagra Brands from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Evercore reduced their target price on Conagra Brands from $18.00 to $13.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Conagra Brands from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Conagra Brands from $15.00 to $13.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $14.07.

Conagra Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CAG opened at $16.22 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $7.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.06 and a beta of -0.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.90. Conagra Brands has a fifty-two week low of $12.53 and a fifty-two week high of $20.32. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.36.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.89 billion. Conagra Brands had a negative net margin of 16.99% and a positive return on equity of 10.44%. The business’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.56 EPS. Conagra Brands has set its FY 2027 guidance at 1.400-1.500 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Conagra Brands will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Conagra Brands Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.175 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 30th. Conagra Brands’s dividend payout ratio is -17.50%.

About Conagra Brands

Conagra Brands, Inc is a leading packaged foods company based in Chicago, Illinois, with a broad portfolio of shelf-stable, frozen and refrigerated foods marketed under familiar brands. The company develops, produces and distributes a wide range of consumer food products, serving both retail grocery and foodservice channels. Conagra’s product lineup includes frozen entrees, snacks, condiments, baking goods and desserts, providing convenient meal solutions for consumers across North America and select international markets.

Among its well-known brands are Birds Eye, Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine, Marie Callender’s and Banquet in the frozen foods category, as well as Hunt’s sauces, Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn, Slim Jim meat snacks and Reddi-wip toppings.