The Goldman Sachs Group Lowers Leggett & Platt (NYSE:LEG) Price Target to $14.00

Leggett & Platt (NYSE:LEG) had its price target reduced by The Goldman Sachs Group from $20.00 to $14.00 in a research report report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com downgraded Leggett & Platt from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Leggett & Platt from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Leggett & Platt from $16.00 to $13.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, TheStreet cut Leggett & Platt from a c rating to a d+ rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $13.33.

Leggett & Platt Stock Down 2.3 %

LEG traded down $0.32 on Thursday, hitting $13.63. The company had a trading volume of 1,480,660 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,882,866. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $18.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.04. Leggett & Platt has a 12-month low of $11.02 and a 12-month high of $33.06. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. Leggett & Platt had a positive return on equity of 11.31% and a negative net margin of 3.44%. Leggett & Platt’s revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Leggett & Platt will post 1.14 EPS for the current year.

Leggett & Platt Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Leggett & Platt’s payout ratio is currently -158.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Leggett & Platt

In related news, EVP Ryan Michael Kleiboeker bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $13.39 per share, for a total transaction of $133,900.00. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president now directly owns 41,535 shares in the company, valued at $556,153.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.92% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Leggett & Platt

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LEG. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its holdings in Leggett & Platt by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 115,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,213,000 after acquiring an additional 1,730 shares during the period. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its holdings in Leggett & Platt by 27.8% during the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 14,643 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,000 after acquiring an additional 3,183 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Leggett & Platt by 28.6% during the 1st quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 106,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,046,000 after acquiring an additional 23,735 shares during the period. FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in Leggett & Platt during the 1st quarter valued at about $455,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Leggett & Platt by 88.0% during the 1st quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 17,416 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,000 after acquiring an additional 8,153 shares during the period. 64.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.