First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Has $793,000 Stock Holdings in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its position in shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) by 8.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,395 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,843 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Conagra Brands were worth $793,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 20.5% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 11,013,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $313,004,000 after purchasing an additional 1,871,238 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Conagra Brands by 17.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,313,994 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,602,000 after purchasing an additional 633,794 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 148.2% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 2,535,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,048,000 after acquiring an additional 1,513,726 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 1,362.6% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,406,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,400,000 after acquiring an additional 2,242,186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 3.5% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,294,468 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,209,000 after acquiring an additional 78,487 shares during the last quarter. 83.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Conagra Brands in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Conagra Brands from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Conagra Brands from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Conagra Brands in a report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Conagra Brands from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Conagra Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.63.

Conagra Brands Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Conagra Brands stock opened at $28.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.94. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.62 and a 52 week high of $33.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $30.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.83 billion, a PE ratio of 28.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.32.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 2nd. The company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.84 billion. Conagra Brands had a net margin of 4.14% and a return on equity of 13.71%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Conagra Brands, Inc. will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Conagra Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.83%. Conagra Brands’s payout ratio is 135.92%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Conagra Brands news, COO Thomas M. Mcgough sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.29, for a total value of $1,211,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 161,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,890,108.47. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

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.