Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) Shares Purchased by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) by 15.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,182,882 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 156,161 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 0.25% of Conagra Brands worth $32,825,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAG. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Conagra Brands by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,798,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,631,671,000 after acquiring an additional 1,132,839 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 7.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,484,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $796,229,000 after purchasing an additional 1,691,945 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Conagra Brands by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 12,285,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $341,048,000 after purchasing an additional 618,096 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Conagra Brands by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,514,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,180,000 after purchasing an additional 196,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Conagra Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $168,877,000. 83.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CAG has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Conagra Brands from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $33.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Conagra Brands in a research note on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Conagra Brands from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Conagra Brands from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Conagra Brands in a report on Monday, March 24th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $27.00 target price on the stock. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.20.

Conagra Brands Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:CAG opened at $26.71 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.40. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.06 and a twelve month high of $33.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $12.75 billion, a PE ratio of 26.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.27.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Conagra Brands had a net margin of 4.13% and a return on equity of 13.76%. The business’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.69 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Conagra Brands, Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Conagra Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 28th. Conagra Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 205.88%.

Conagra Brands Company 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.