Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $81.00.

LW has been the subject of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Lamb Weston in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $85.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup downgraded Lamb Weston from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Lamb Weston from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd.

Insider Activity at Lamb Weston

In other Lamb Weston news, Director Charles A. Blixt bought 1,200 shares of Lamb Weston stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $63.25 per share, for a total transaction of $75,900.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 22,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,453,611.50. This trade represents a 5.51 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LW. State Street Corp raised its position in Lamb Weston by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,221,665 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $402,791,000 after purchasing an additional 549,812 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Lamb Weston by 0.7% in the third 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 holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,618,570 shares in the last quarter. TPG GP A LLC grew its holdings in Lamb Weston by 74.4% during the 2nd quarter. TPG GP A LLC now owns 2,924,230 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $245,869,000 after acquiring an additional 1,247,206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its position in Lamb Weston by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 2,045,582 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $171,993,000 after purchasing an additional 114,049 shares during the period. 89.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LW opened at $61.79 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $8.81 billion, a PE ratio of 14.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.73. Lamb Weston has a 1 year low of $52.99 and a 1 year high of $110.61. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $74.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

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

Lamb Weston Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from Lamb Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.40%. Lamb Weston’s payout ratio is currently 58.50%.

Lamb Weston Company Profile

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.