Machina Capital S.A.S. Takes Position in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

Machina Capital S.A.S. purchased a new position in shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 20,094 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $558,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brookstone Capital Management increased its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 399,454 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,085,000 after purchasing an additional 62,187 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 110.8% during the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 36,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,196,000 after purchasing an additional 19,329 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 41.0% during the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 78,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,175,000 after purchasing an additional 22,790 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Conagra Brands by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 12,285,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $341,048,000 after buying an additional 618,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in Conagra Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,020,000. 83.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Conagra Brands Stock Performance

NYSE CAG opened at $27.25 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $13.00 billion, a PE ratio of 26.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.06 and a twelve month high of $33.24. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.21.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. Conagra Brands had a return on equity of 13.76% and a net margin of 4.13%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Conagra Brands, Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Conagra Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Monday, January 27th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.14%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, January 27th. Conagra Brands’s payout ratio is 137.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Conagra Brands from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Conagra Brands from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Bank of America dropped their target price on Conagra Brands from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Conagra Brands from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $33.00 to $26.00 in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of Conagra Brands in a report on Friday, December 20th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Conagra Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.33.

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.