Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) Given New $15.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) had its target price dropped by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $17.00 to $15.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price suggests a potential upside of 3.56% from the company’s previous close.

CAG has been the subject of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Conagra Brands from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. BTIG Research began coverage on shares of Conagra Brands in a research note on Monday, April 13th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Evercore cut their price target on shares of Conagra Brands from $19.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Conagra Brands from $18.00 to $14.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $15.80.

Conagra Brands Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of CAG stock opened at $14.49 on Thursday. Conagra Brands has a 12 month low of $14.04 and a 12 month high of $25.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $6.93 billion, a PE ratio of -144.84 and a beta of 0.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $16.75 and a 200-day moving average of $17.38.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 1st. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. Conagra Brands had a positive return on equity of 10.15% and a negative net margin of 0.39%.The company’s revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.51 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Conagra Brands will post 1.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Richard H. Lenny purchased 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $14.34 per share, with a total value of $358,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 229,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,288,735.60. This trade represents a 12.23% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John J. Mulligan purchased 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $14.31 per share, with a total value of $250,425.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 20,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $296,617.68. This represents a 542.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Conagra Brands

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CAG. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Conagra Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $145,656,000. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its stake in Conagra Brands by 239.6% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 8,347,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $152,837,000 after acquiring an additional 5,889,542 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Conagra Brands by 245.5% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 7,734,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,611,000 after acquiring an additional 5,495,503 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Conagra Brands by 216.2% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,459,654 shares of the company’s stock valued at $135,318,000 after acquiring an additional 5,100,424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its stake in Conagra Brands by 241.9% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 5,915,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,313,000 after acquiring an additional 4,185,486 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.75% of the company’s stock.

About Conagra Brands

Conagra Brands, Inc is a leading packaged foods company based in Chicago, Illinois, with a broad portfolio of shelf-stable, frozen and refrigerated foods marketed under familiar brands. The company develops, produces and distributes a wide range of consumer food products, serving both retail grocery and foodservice channels. Conagra’s product lineup includes frozen entrees, snacks, condiments, baking goods and desserts, providing convenient meal solutions for consumers across North America and select international markets.

Among its well-known brands are Birds Eye, Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine, Marie Callender’s and Banquet in the frozen foods category, as well as Hunt’s sauces, Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn, Slim Jim meat snacks and Reddi-wip toppings.