Inspire Investing LLC Trims Holdings in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

Inspire Investing LLC lessened its stake in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 50,883 shares of the company’s stock after selling 858 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Conagra Brands were worth $1,412,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAG. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 21,015.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,654,828 shares of the company’s stock worth $346,495,000 after purchasing an additional 10,604,367 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 106.4% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,077,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $197,624,000 after purchasing an additional 3,133,200 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in Conagra Brands in the third quarter worth about $65,932,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Conagra Brands by 7.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,484,277 shares of the company’s stock valued at $796,229,000 after buying an additional 1,691,945 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP acquired a new stake in Conagra Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $46,990,000. 83.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CAG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Conagra Brands from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Conagra Brands to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Conagra Brands from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Conagra Brands from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of Conagra Brands in a report on Friday, December 20th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Conagra Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.56.

Conagra Brands Price Performance

NYSE CAG opened at $25.35 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $27.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.17. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.06 and a 52 week high of $33.24. The stock has a market cap of $12.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.29. 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 (NYSE:CAG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.15 billion. Conagra Brands had a return on equity of 13.76% and a net margin of 4.13%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. Analysts forecast that Conagra Brands, Inc. will post 2.46 EPS for the current year.

Conagra Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Monday, January 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 27th. Conagra Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 137.26%.

About Conagra Brands

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.