Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 328,841 Shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI)

Victory Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Free Report) by 64.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 183,471 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock after selling 328,841 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. were worth $3,174,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 794,408 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $17,318,000 after purchasing an additional 110,993 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in the 3rd quarter valued at $832,000. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the 4th quarter valued at $511,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,222,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC increased its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 282.1% in the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 150,793 shares of the blue-jean maker's stock valued at $3,287,000 after buying an additional 111,330 shares during the period. 69.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LEVI. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $21.27.

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Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Down 2.0 %

Levi Strauss & Co. stock traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $15.76. The stock had a trading volume of 1,813,460 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,177,639. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.24 billion, a PE ratio of 30.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.16. Levi Strauss & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $15.51 and a fifty-two week high of $24.34. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $17.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.42.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. Levi Strauss & Co. had a net margin of 3.32% and a return on equity of 25.88%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th were issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 12th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. Levi Strauss & Co.'s dividend payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Insider Activity at Levi Strauss & Co.

In related news, Director David A. Friedman sold 4,166 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.00, for a total transaction of $74,988.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 104,178 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,875,204. This represents a 3.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 3.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Levi Strauss & Co. Company Profile

Levi Strauss & Co engages in the design, marketing, and sale of apparel products. The company offers jeans, casual and dress pants, tops, shorts, skirts, jackets, footwear, and related accessories. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, and Asia. The company was founded by Levi Strauss in 1853 and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA.