Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Raises Stake in Campbell Soup (NASDAQ:CPB)

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Campbell Soup (NASDAQ:CPB) by 38.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,870 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,482 shares during the quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Campbell Soup were worth $972,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Campbell Soup by 6.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 278,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,629,000 after purchasing an additional 17,663 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC lifted its holdings in Campbell Soup by 18.3% during the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 6,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 931 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Campbell Soup by 9.7% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $769,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Campbell Soup by 2.2% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 276,794 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,541,000 after purchasing an additional 6,087 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Campbell Soup by 45.1% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 552 shares during the last quarter. 52.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on CPB shares. Argus raised shares of Campbell Soup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Campbell Soup from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $55.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Campbell Soup from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Campbell Soup from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Campbell Soup from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Campbell Soup currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.83.

Campbell Soup Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ CPB traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $45.85. 58,030 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,512,420. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $48.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.09. Campbell Soup has a 12 month low of $39.65 and a 12 month high of $52.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.19.

Campbell Soup (NASDAQ:CPB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.01. Campbell Soup had a return on equity of 24.08% and a net margin of 5.88%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. Campbell Soup’s revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Campbell Soup will post 3.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Campbell Soup Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 3rd were issued a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 3rd. Campbell Soup’s dividend payout ratio is 78.31%.

About Campbell Soup

Campbell Soup Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets food and beverage products in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Meals & Beverages and Snacks segments. The Meals & Beverages segment engages in the retail and foodservice businesses in the United States and Canada.