Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) Price Target Lowered to $69.00 at Barclays

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) had its price target trimmed by Barclays from $87.00 to $69.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

LW has been the topic of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Lamb Weston from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Lamb Weston in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $85.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $81.00.

Lamb Weston Trading Up 2.9 %

LW opened at $63.90 on Monday. Lamb Weston has a 12 month low of $52.99 and a 12 month high of $111.88. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $76.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $72.24. The firm has a market cap of $9.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.00, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.01 by ($0.35). Lamb Weston had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 34.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.45 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lamb Weston will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This is an increase from Lamb Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. Lamb Weston’s payout ratio is currently 33.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Charles A. Blixt bought 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $63.25 per share, with a total value of $75,900.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 22,982 shares in the company, valued at $1,453,611.50. This trade represents a 5.51 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lamb Weston

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LW. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston in the third quarter valued at about $129,480,000. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Lamb Weston by 108.7% during the 3rd quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,107,929 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $201,207,000 after buying an additional 1,618,570 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in shares of Lamb Weston during the third quarter valued at approximately $86,883,000. TPG GP A LLC lifted its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 74.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,247,206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 78.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,888,556 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $158,790,000 after acquiring an additional 830,511 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

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.