ConAgra insider Craig Omtvedt bought $1.35 million of the food giants’s stock two weeks after ConAgra Brands Inc (CAG) reported surprisingly good earnings and upped its guidance. CAG hit 52-week highs after the report. Omtvedt’s Form 4 disclosing his purchase came after market hours on Jan. 3.
Omtvedt has been a director of ConAgra since Nov. of 2016. He is also the Chairman of OshKosh Corp. (OSK), serving as a director at the vehicle maker since 2008. Omtvedt was the CFO of Fortune Brands from 2000 through 2011. The ConAgra insider’s only previous purchase of CAG was on July 2 of last year when he bought 25,000 shares at $26.93. Omtvedt averaged up with this recent purchase, buying 40,000 shares at $33.99. He increased his stake in ConAgra by 114%.
ConAgra insider Craig Omtvedt insider purchases of CAG since becoming a director. Source: WhaleWisdom.com
| Filing Date | Company | Symbol | Transaction | Trade Date | Shares | Avg. Price | Total | Holdings Change |
| 03-Jan-2020 | ConAgra Foods, Inc. | CAG | Open Mkt Buy | 02-Jan-2020 | 14,450 | 34 | $ 491,300 | 24% |
| 03-Jan-2020 | ConAgra Foods, Inc. | CAG | Open Mkt Buy | 31-Dec-2019 | 25,550 | 33.98 | $ 868,189 | 73% |
| 02-Jul-2019 | ConAgra Foods, Inc. | CAG | Open Mkt Buy | 28-Jun-2019 | 25,000 | 26.73 | $ 668,250 | 249% |
CAG hit a 52-week high just before the big purchase by ConAgra insider Craig Omtvedt.
Conagra, a food giant with a market cap of $16.29 billion, owns a portfolio of well-known brands, including Duncan Hines, Orville Redenbacher’s, Healthy Choice, Bird’s Eye and Slim Jim. CAG stock soared over 22% after it released strong fiscal second-quarter 2020 results that topped both top- and bottom-line estimates.
For the period, which ended Nov. 24, net sales rose 18.3% to $2.82 billion. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.63, topping analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.57.
“We maintained our strong momentum in frozen and snacks,” Chief Executive Sean Connolly said in a statement. “We also made good progress on our large grocery brands, Hunt’s and Chef Boyardee, both of which made sequential improvements.”
Analysts at UBS, Evercore, JP Morgan and Barclays were among firms that raised their price targets for CAG after the results.
More significantly, the $1.35 million purchase by Conagra insider Craig Omtvedt suggests he expects higher prices for CAG shares in the future.
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