VF (NYSE:VFC) Sets New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

VF Corporation (NYSE:VFC)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from $21.00 to $24.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a hold rating on the stock. VF traded as high as $26.57 and last traded at $26.93, with a volume of 477217 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $25.99.

VFC has been the subject of a number of other reports. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of VF in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded VF from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $16.00 to $15.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. OTR Global upgraded VF from a “mixed” rating to a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of VF from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of VF from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.84.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VF by 1.8% in the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 3,663,341 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $73,084,000 after buying an additional 65,919 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its stake in VF by 90.7% in the 2nd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 202,723 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $2,737,000 after purchasing an additional 96,442 shares in the last quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. bought a new position in VF in the 3rd quarter valued at $640,000. TB Alternative Assets Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of VF during the 4th quarter valued at $1,878,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of VF by 40.1% in the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 107,700 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $2,149,000 after purchasing an additional 30,800 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.84% of the company’s stock.

VF Trading Down 4.3 %

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $21.98 and a 200-day moving average of $19.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.86, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

VF (NYSE:VFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The textile maker reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.28. VF had a positive return on equity of 12.53% and a negative net margin of 6.68%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. On average, analysts predict that VF Corporation will post 0.48 EPS for the current year.

VF Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. VF’s dividend payout ratio is presently -20.81%.

About VF

VF Corp. engages in the business of producing and marketing apparel, footwear, and accessories. It operates through the following segments: Outdoor, Active, Work, and Other. The Outdoor segment includes authentic outdoor-based lifestyle brands such as performance-based and outdoor apparel, footwear, and equipment.