Jefferies Financial Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) Stock Price

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) had its price objective dropped by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $15.00 to $13.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a “hold” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 3.31% from the stock’s current price.

CAG has been the topic of a number of other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on shares of Conagra Brands from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded Conagra Brands from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Evercore reduced their price target on Conagra Brands from $19.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Conagra Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $15.47.

Conagra Brands Trading Up 2.2%

CAG stock traded up $0.30 on Wednesday, hitting $13.45. 1,942,251 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,303,773. Conagra Brands has a twelve month low of $13.14 and a twelve month high of $23.09. The business’s fifty day moving average is $14.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.43 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of -134.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 1st. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.01). Conagra Brands had a positive return on equity of 10.15% and a negative net margin of 0.39%.The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.76 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.51 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Conagra Brands will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John J. Mulligan purchased 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $14.31 per share, for a total transaction of $250,425.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 20,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $296,617.68. This trade represents a 542.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Richard H. Lenny bought 25,000 shares of Conagra Brands stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $14.34 per share, for a total transaction of $358,500.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 229,340 shares in the company, valued at $3,288,735.60. The trade was a 12.23% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Conagra Brands

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CAG. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al lifted its holdings in Conagra Brands by 24.8% in the fourth quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 661,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,442,000 after purchasing an additional 131,287 shares during the period. Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new position in shares of Conagra Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,415,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Conagra Brands by 153.4% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 406,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,897,000 after purchasing an additional 246,178 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 720,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,185,000 after buying an additional 86,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 15.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,021,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,323,000 after buying an additional 408,597 shares in the last quarter. 83.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Conagra Brands Company Profile

Conagra Brands, Inc is a leading packaged foods company based in Chicago, Illinois, with a broad portfolio of shelf-stable, frozen and refrigerated foods marketed under familiar brands. The company develops, produces and distributes a wide range of consumer food products, serving both retail grocery and foodservice channels. Conagra’s product lineup includes frozen entrees, snacks, condiments, baking goods and desserts, providing convenient meal solutions for consumers across North America and select international markets.

Among its well-known brands are Birds Eye, Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine, Marie Callender’s and Banquet in the frozen foods category, as well as Hunt’s sauces, Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn, Slim Jim meat snacks and Reddi-wip toppings.