Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. Purchases New Shares in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI)

Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 13,500 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LEVI. Everett Harris & Co. CA purchased a new stake in Levi Strauss & Co. in the 3rd quarter valued at $204,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 43.1% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 19,978 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 6,018 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,327,756 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $18,031,000 after acquiring an additional 267,760 shares during the period. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. grew its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 17,000 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $231,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, Duality Advisers LP bought a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the 3rd quarter worth $225,000. 69.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of LEVI opened at $21.73 on Tuesday. Levi Strauss & Co. has a 12-month low of $12.41 and a 12-month high of $22.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market cap of $8.65 billion, a PE ratio of 70.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $19.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.93.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The blue-jean maker reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.05. Levi Strauss & Co. had a net margin of 2.05% and a return on equity of 20.68%. The business had revenue of $1.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. Levi Strauss & Co.’s quarterly revenue was down 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 8th. Levi Strauss & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 154.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on LEVI shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $17.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.56.

Insider Transactions at Levi Strauss & Co.

In other news, major shareholder Bradley J. Haas sold 85,985 shares of Levi Strauss & Co. stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.06, for a total transaction of $1,896,829.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Levi Strauss & Co. news, EVP Tracy Layney sold 15,894 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.02, for a total value of $270,515.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 41,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,785.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bradley J. Haas sold 85,985 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.06, for a total transaction of $1,896,829.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 254,712 shares of company stock valued at $5,171,845. Insiders own 3.14% of the company’s stock.

About Levi Strauss & Co.

Levi Strauss & Co designs, markets, and sells apparels and related accessories for men, women, and children worldwide. The company offers jeans, casual and dress pants, activewears, tops, shorts, skirts, dresses, jumpsuits, shirts, sweaters, jackets, footwear, and related accessories under the Levi's, Dockers, Signature by Levi Strauss & Co, Denizen, and Beyond Yoga brands.