Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW)

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock investors purchased 13,209 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 68% compared to the typical daily volume of 7,855 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LW. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 9.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,221,665 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $402,791,000 after buying an additional 549,812 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Lamb Weston by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,388,056 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $218,598,000 after acquiring an additional 24,097 shares during the period. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Lamb Weston by 108.7% in the third quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,107,929 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $201,207,000 after acquiring an additional 1,618,570 shares in the last quarter. TPG GP A LLC raised its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 74.4% during the second quarter. TPG GP A LLC now owns 2,924,230 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $245,869,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247,206 shares during the period. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 5.9% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 2,045,582 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $171,993,000 after purchasing an additional 114,049 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

Lamb Weston Stock Up 6.8 %

LW stock opened at $79.29 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $76.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.61, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.70. Lamb Weston has a one year low of $52.99 and a one year high of $111.88.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The specialty retailer reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 34.33% and a net margin of 9.57%. The firm’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.63 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lamb Weston will post 4.26 EPS for the current year.

Lamb Weston Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on LW shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America boosted their target price on Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Lamb Weston in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $85.00 price target for the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Lamb Weston from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Lamb Weston from $76.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lamb Weston has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.36.

About Lamb Weston

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc produces, distributes, and markets frozen potato products worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Global, Foodservice, Retail, and Other. It offers frozen potatoes, commercial ingredients, and appetizers under the Lamb Weston brand, as well as under various customer labels.