Bank of New York Mellon Corp Boosts Position in Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) by 13.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,462,414 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 642,806 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Conagra Brands were worth $151,582,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in Conagra Brands by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 399,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,085,000 after purchasing an additional 62,187 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Conagra Brands by 110.8% during the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 36,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,196,000 after purchasing an additional 19,329 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its holdings in Conagra Brands by 41.0% during the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 78,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,175,000 after purchasing an additional 22,790 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Conagra Brands by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 12,285,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $341,048,000 after purchasing an additional 618,096 shares during the period. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in Conagra Brands during the third quarter valued at about $1,020,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.75% of the company’s stock.

Conagra Brands Stock Performance

NYSE CAG opened at $25.54 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $12.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.28. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.06 and a twelve month high of $33.24. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $25.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.39.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.15 billion. Conagra Brands had a return on equity of 13.76% and a net margin of 4.13%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Conagra Brands, Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Conagra Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Monday, January 27th were given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, January 27th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.48%. Conagra Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 137.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CAG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Conagra Brands from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Bank of America cut their price target on Conagra Brands from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup cut their price target on Conagra Brands from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Conagra Brands from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Conagra Brands from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Conagra Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.67.

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.