Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. Makes New $10.30 Million Investment in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI)

Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 595,215 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock, valued at approximately $10,297,000. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.15% of Levi Strauss & Co. as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LEVI. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in the 4th quarter worth $39,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. in the 4th quarter worth about $82,000. Matrix Trust Co raised its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 678.9% in the 4th quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 5,507 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $95,000 after buying an additional 4,800 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Levi Strauss & Co. during the 4th quarter valued at about $105,000. Finally, Manchester Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the 4th quarter valued at about $115,000. Institutional investors own 69.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David A. Friedman sold 4,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.44, for a total value of $76,821.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 100,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,844,221.28. This trade represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LEVI has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup dropped their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $19.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Bank of America upgraded Levi Strauss & Co. from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $22.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.18.

Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Performance

LEVI opened at $14.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.11, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a fifty day moving average of $16.15 and a 200 day moving average of $17.17. Levi Strauss & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $12.17 and a fifty-two week high of $24.34.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 7th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a return on equity of 25.88% and a net margin of 3.32%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 24th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.56%. Levi Strauss & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.43%.

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.