California Public Employees Retirement System Reduces Holdings in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,969,079 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,752 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.62% of Conagra Brands worth $85,094,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 240,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,904,000 after purchasing an additional 22,902 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 329.5% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 83,292 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,387,000 after purchasing an additional 63,897 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 36.7% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 25,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $724,000 after purchasing an additional 6,774 shares during the period. abrdn plc boosted its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 215,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,164,000 after purchasing an additional 30,915 shares during the period. Finally, Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS boosted its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 734,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,054,000 after purchasing an additional 19,609 shares during the period. 83.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CAG. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Conagra Brands from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Conagra Brands from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Conagra Brands from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Conagra Brands from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.14.

Conagra Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Conagra Brands stock opened at $31.56 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.09 billion, a PE ratio of 15.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.63. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $25.16 and a one year high of $38.73.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 4th. The company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.05. Conagra Brands had a net margin of 7.86% and a return on equity of 14.25%. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Conagra Brands, Inc. will post 2.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Conagra Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.44%. Conagra Brands’s payout ratio is 70.35%.

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.