Trexquant Investment LP Buys 239,518 Shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI)

Trexquant Investment LP grew its stake in Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) by 47.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 746,017 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 239,518 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in Levi Strauss & Co. were worth $12,906,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 44.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,420,007 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $205,356,000 after purchasing an additional 2,907,099 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,824,983 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $152,672,000 after buying an additional 133,978 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,673,056 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $115,444,000 after buying an additional 81,435 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,608,253 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $27,823,000 after buying an additional 219,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 59.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,555,382 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $33,907,000 after acquiring an additional 579,460 shares in the last quarter. 69.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on LEVI shares. Telsey Advisory Group lowered their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays dropped their target price on Levi Strauss & Co. from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Levi Strauss & Co. from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.27.

Levi Strauss & Co. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LEVI opened at $16.36 on Wednesday. Levi Strauss & Co. has a twelve month low of $15.42 and a twelve month high of $24.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $6.47 billion, a PE ratio of 31.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s 50 day moving average is $17.36 and its 200 day moving average is $17.78.

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

Levi Strauss & Co. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 12th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.18%. Levi Strauss & Co.’s payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David A. Friedman sold 4,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.44, for a total transaction of $76,821.04. Following the sale, the director now owns 100,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,844,221.28. This trade represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.25% of the company’s stock.

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.