Mark A. Blinn Buys 6,000 Shares of Leggett & Platt, Incorporated (NYSE:LEG) Stock

Leggett & Platt, Incorporated (NYSE:LEG) Director Mark A. Blinn bought 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $10.74 per share, with a total value of $64,440.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 32,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $346,923.48. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Leggett & Platt Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LEG traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $10.64. 3,430,952 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,452,411. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $16.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.88. The firm has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a PE ratio of -9.17 and a beta of 1.19. Leggett & Platt, Incorporated has a 52 week low of $10.44 and a 52 week high of $32.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Leggett & Platt (NYSE:LEG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. Leggett & Platt had a positive return on equity of 11.31% and a negative net margin of 3.44%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Leggett & Platt, Incorporated will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leggett & Platt Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Leggett & Platt’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -158.62%.

Institutional Trading of Leggett & Platt

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LEG. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Leggett & Platt by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,996,067 shares of the company’s stock worth $340,107,000 after purchasing an additional 49,086 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Leggett & Platt by 7.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,231,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,888,000 after acquiring an additional 405,363 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Leggett & Platt by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,373,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,127,000 after acquiring an additional 262,145 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Leggett & Platt by 68.5% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,934,905 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,636,000 after acquiring an additional 786,297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Leggett & Platt by 45.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,699,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,186,000 after purchasing an additional 532,780 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LEG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TheStreet lowered Leggett & Platt from a “c” rating to a “d+” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Leggett & Platt from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Leggett & Platt from $16.00 to $13.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Leggett & Platt from $20.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Leggett & Platt from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.33.

About Leggett & Platt

Leggett & Platt, Incorporated designs, manufactures, and sells engineered components and products in the United States, Europe, China, Canada, Mexico, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Bedding Products; Specialized Products; and Furniture, Flooring & Textile Products. The company offers steel rods, drawn wires, specialty foam chemicals and additives, innersprings, specialty foam for use in bedding and furniture, private label finished mattresses, ready-to-assemble mattress foundations, static foundations, and adjustable beds, as well as machines for producing innersprings; industrial sewing and quilting machines; mattress-packaging; and glue-drying equipment for various industrial users of steel rod and wire, manufacturers of finished bedding, bedding brands and mattress retailers, E-commerce retailers, big box retailers, department stores, and home improvement centers.