Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the ten research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $30.33.

Several brokerages recently commented on CAG. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Conagra Brands from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Conagra Brands from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Conagra Brands from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. BNP Paribas raised Conagra Brands to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Conagra Brands in a research note on Friday, December 20th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Conagra Brands

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 21,015.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,654,828 shares of the company’s stock worth $346,495,000 after acquiring an additional 10,604,367 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its holdings in Conagra Brands by 106.4% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,077,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $197,624,000 after purchasing an additional 3,133,200 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in Conagra Brands during the third quarter worth approximately $65,932,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in Conagra Brands by 7.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,484,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $796,229,000 after purchasing an additional 1,691,945 shares during the period. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP acquired a new position in Conagra Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $46,990,000. 83.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Conagra Brands Stock Performance

CAG opened at $25.95 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.10. The firm has a market cap of $12.38 billion, a PE ratio of 25.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Conagra Brands has a fifty-two week low of $25.06 and a fifty-two week high of $33.24.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. Conagra Brands had a return on equity of 13.76% and a net margin of 4.13%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. Conagra Brands’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Conagra Brands will post 2.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Monday, January 27th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 27th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.40%. Conagra Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 137.26%.

Conagra Brands Company Profile

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.