Assetmark Inc. Increases Investment in The Campbell Soup Company (NASDAQ:CPB)

Assetmark Inc. has significantly increased its investment in The Campbell Soup Company (NASDAQ:CPB) by 111.7% during the fourth quarter, as detailed in their recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). After acquiring an additional 2,032 shares in this period, Assetmark now holds a total of 3,851 shares of Campbell Soup Company worth approximately $161,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their investments in the company. For instance, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings by 6.8% in the third quarter, increasing its total to 278,607 shares valued at about $13.63 million after adding 17,663 shares. Similarly, both Atria Investments Inc. and Apollon Wealth Management LLC expanded their positions in Campbell Soup by 10.7% and in new acquisitions valued at $274,000 and $315,000, respectively. Furthermore, Entropy Technologies LP also entered a new position in Campbell Soup worth around $830,000. Altogether, institutional investors own approximately 52.35% of the company's stock.

Campbell Soup Stock Performance

On a recent trading day, shares of Campbell Soup opened at $38.47. Over the past year, the stock has seen a low of $36.92 and a high of $52.81. Its debt-to-equity ratio stands at 1.74, with a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.50. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $39.30 and a 200-day moving average of $44.04. Currently, Campbell Soup Company has a market capitalization of $11.47 billion, a price-to-earnings (PE) ratio of 21.02, and a price-to-earnings-growth (PEG) ratio of 2.71, with a beta of 0.15.

Recently, the company announced its quarterly earnings on March 5, reporting earnings per share (EPS) of $0.74. This figure exceeded analysts' expectations of $0.73 by slightly. Additionally, Campbell Soup achieved a return on equity of 23.79% and a net margin of 5.57%. For the quarter, the revenue was reported at $2.69 billion, slightly lower than the analysts' forecast of $2.74 billion, while showing a year-over-year increase of 9.3%. Equities analysts expect the company to post earnings of approximately $3.15 per share for the current year.

Dividend Announcement

Campbell Soup has declared its intention to distribute a quarterly dividend, which will be payable on April 28. Shareholders registered on April 3 will receive $0.39 per share, leading to an annualized dividend of $1.56, equating to a yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date for this distribution is set for April 3. Notably, the company has a dividend payout ratio (DPR) of 90.17%, indicating a high proportion of earnings allocated to dividends.

Analyst Price Targets

Following analyst evaluations, several adjustments to price targets for Campbell Soup have been made. Citigroup has lowered its target from $39.00 to $37.00 with a 'sell' rating. Similarly, Stifel Nicolaus reduced its target from $47.00 to $40.00, maintaining a 'hold' rating. Bank of America also adjusted its price target downward from $45.00 to $41.00 and rated it as ‘underperform’. Meanwhile, Jefferies Financial Group decreased its target from $42.00 to $40.00 while reaffirming a 'hold' rating on the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, current research shows four analysts rating Campbell Soup as a 'sell', eight as a 'hold', and four as a 'buy', with an average target price of $45.23.

Insider Transactions

On the insider front, Executive Vice President Anthony Sanzio sold 2,000 shares of Campbell Soup on January 3 at an average price of $41.90, resulting in total proceeds of $83,800. This transaction represented a decrease of 10.78% in Sanzio's ownership, and he now retains 16,551 shares valued at approximately $693,486.90. Reports indicate that around 20.19% of Campbell Soup's stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Company Overview

The Campbell Soup Company manufactures and markets a wide range of food and beverage products in the U.S. and internationally. The company operates through two main segments: Meals & Beverages and Snacks, servicing both retail and foodservice channels in the U.S. and Canada.

Investment, Stocks, Earnings, Dividends, Finance