Cadence Bank Purchases New Shares in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

Cadence Bank acquired a new position in shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 267,156 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,414,000. Cadence Bank owned about 0.06% of Conagra Brands as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAG. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Conagra Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $168,877,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in Conagra Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $110,704,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of 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 period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,798,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,631,671,000 after acquiring an additional 1,132,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC raised its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 114.5% during the fourth quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 1,927,141 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,478,000 after acquiring an additional 1,028,631 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CAG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on 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. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Conagra Brands from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of Conagra Brands in a report on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Conagra Brands from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.90.

Conagra Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Conagra Brands stock opened at $25.31 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $12.08 billion, a PE ratio of 24.82, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.27. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.06 and a 12 month high of $33.24.

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

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 28th. Conagra Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 205.88%.

Conagra Brands 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.