Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Reduces Stock Position in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC trimmed its position in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG - Free Report) by 17.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 151,130 shares of the company's stock after selling 31,153 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC's holdings in Conagra Brands were worth $4,194,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CAG. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Conagra Brands by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,798,952 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,631,671,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132,839 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 12,285,579 shares of the company's stock valued at $341,048,000 after buying an additional 618,096 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,745,629 shares of the company's stock worth $325,096,000 after buying an additional 231,477 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Conagra Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $168,877,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Conagra Brands by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,462,414 shares of the company's stock valued at $151,582,000 after acquiring an additional 642,806 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Conagra Brands from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Conagra Brands in a research report on Monday, March 24th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $27.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Conagra Brands from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Conagra Brands from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $27.90.

Conagra Brands Price Performance

CAG stock traded up $0.49 during trading on Friday, hitting $25.97. The stock had a trading volume of 7,994,201 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,133,955. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.06 and a twelve month high of $33.24. The company's 50-day moving average price is $25.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.27.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.01). Conagra Brands had a return on equity of 13.76% and a net margin of 4.13%. The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Conagra Brands, Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Conagra Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.39%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. Conagra Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 205.88%.

About Conagra Brands

Conagra Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a consumer packaged goods food company primarily in the United States. The company operates through Grocery & Snacks, Refrigerated & Frozen, International, and Foodservice segments. The Grocery & Snacks segment primarily offers shelf stable food products through various retail channels.