Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Shares Purchased by Fmr LLC

FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Free Report) by 44.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,420,007 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock after purchasing an additional 2,907,099 shares during the period. FMR LLC owned approximately 2.37% of Levi Strauss & Co. worth $205,356,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 42,745 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $824,000 after acquiring an additional 743 shares during the last quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC now owns 21,690 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $473,000 after acquiring an additional 765 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 85,129 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $1,702,000 after acquiring an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. Waycross Investment Management Co raised its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Waycross Investment Management Co now owns 38,195 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock worth $736,000 after acquiring an additional 955 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Levi Strauss & Co. in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.14% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David A. Friedman sold 25,002 shares of Levi Strauss & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total transaction of $500,040.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 229,176 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,583,520. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.14% of the company's stock.

Levi Strauss & Co. Price Performance

Levi Strauss & Co. stock traded up $0.25 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $18.43. The company had a trading volume of 925,606 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,233,731. The company has a market capitalization of $7.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.18. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 12-month low of $14.70 and a 12-month high of $24.34. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $18.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 2nd. The blue-jean maker reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a net margin of 2.52% and a return on equity of 24.43%. Levi Strauss & Co.'s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th were paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 29th. Levi Strauss & Co.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 136.85%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on LEVI. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.75.

Levi Strauss & Co. Company 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.