Valmark Advisers Inc. Makes New $325,000 Investment in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI)

Valmark Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 18,794 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock, valued at approximately $325,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at about $115,000. Figure 8 Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $879,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 119.8% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,541,784 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $26,858,000 after purchasing an additional 840,251 shares during the last quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 113.8% during the 4th quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. now owns 34,200 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $592,000 after purchasing an additional 18,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in Levi Strauss & Co. in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $511,000. Institutional investors own 69.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David A. Friedman sold 8,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.00, for a total transaction of $149,976.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 108,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,950,192. This trade represents a 7.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 16,664 shares of company stock worth $301,785 in the last quarter. 3.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group decreased their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.27.

Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE LEVI opened at $18.09 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $17.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.42. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 52-week low of $15.62 and a 52-week high of $24.34. The company has a market capitalization of $7.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.17.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. Levi Strauss & Co. had a net margin of 3.32% and a return on equity of 25.88%. Equities analysts forecast that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 12th. Levi Strauss & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

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.