Legal & General Group Plc Sells 914,003 Shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its stake in shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) by 23.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,903,745 shares of the company’s stock after selling 914,003 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.61% of Conagra Brands worth $80,579,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Conagra Brands by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,161,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $309,728,000 after buying an additional 1,745,319 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 909,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,232,000 after purchasing an additional 19,312 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 410,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,509,000 after purchasing an additional 12,932 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 66,435 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,844,000 after purchasing an additional 17,827 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Conagra Brands by 38.4% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,669,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,332,000 after purchasing an additional 463,256 shares in the last quarter. 83.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CAG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays raised 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. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Conagra Brands from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Bank of America reduced their price target on Conagra Brands from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Conagra Brands in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.90.

Conagra Brands Price Performance

CAG stock opened at $25.97 on Friday. The company 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. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $25.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.70. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.06 and a 52-week high of $33.24.

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

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.35 per share. 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 payout ratio 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.