V.F. Corporation (NYSE:VFC) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of V.F. Corporation (NYSE:VFC) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $18.2059.

A number of research firms have commented on VFC. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of V.F. from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of V.F. from $19.00 to $17.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Evercore set a $16.00 target price on shares of V.F. in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Zacks Research lowered shares of V.F. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 25th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating on shares of V.F. in a report on Friday, July 24th.

V.F. Stock Performance

VFC opened at $14.76 on Friday. V.F. has a 12-month low of $11.65 and a 12-month high of $22.27. The stock has a market cap of $5.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.40, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.57. The business has a 50 day moving average of $16.65 and a 200-day moving average of $17.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70.

V.F. (NYSE:VFC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The textile maker reported ($0.27) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by ($0.05). V.F. had a return on equity of 18.91% and a net margin of 2.88%.The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.24) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that V.F. will post 1.07 earnings per share for the current year.

V.F. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th will be given a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 10th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. V.F.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Richard Carucci bought 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were bought at an average price of $17.17 per share, for a total transaction of $515,100.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 336,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,769,858.31. This trade represents a 9.80% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bracken Darrell purchased 32,894 shares of V.F. stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $14.98 per share, with a total value of $492,752.12. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 1,402,109 shares in the company, valued at $21,003,592.82. This trade represents a 2.40% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 1.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On V.F.

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VFC. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in V.F. during the second quarter valued at about $42,038,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of V.F. in the first quarter worth about $3,209,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of V.F. by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 659,773 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $11,930,000 after purchasing an additional 81,006 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC raised its position in shares of V.F. by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 647,496 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $11,707,000 after purchasing an additional 60,619 shares during the period. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of V.F. in the first quarter valued at approximately $815,000. Institutional investors own 86.84% of the company’s stock.

V.F. Company Profile

VF Corporation, commonly branded as VF, is a global apparel and footwear company that develops, markets and distributes a diverse portfolio of consumer brands. Its offerings span outdoor and action sports apparel, footwear and accessories under marquee names such as The North Face, Vans, Timberland, Dickies, JanSport and Smartwool. Through a “house of brands” strategy, VF leverages the unique heritage and design expertise of each label to serve distinct lifestyle and performance segments.

Founded in 1899 in Pennsylvania as the Reading Glove and Mitten Manufacturing Company, VF evolved through a series of acquisitions and strategic expansions to become a leading player in the global apparel industry.