Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $35.00 target price on shares of Lifeway Foods in a research report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lifeway Foods in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Lifeway Foods in a research note on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.33.

Lifeway Foods Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of LWAY opened at $21.85 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $23.23 and its 200 day moving average is $26.01. Lifeway Foods has a 12-month low of $19.50 and a 12-month high of $34.20. The stock has a market cap of $332.78 million, a P/E ratio of 29.93 and a beta of 0.10.

Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.05). Lifeway Foods had a net margin of 5.47% and a return on equity of 14.51%. The business had revenue of $57.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.00 million.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lifeway Foods

In other news, major shareholder Ludmila Smolyansky sold 26,431 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.42, for a total value of $645,445.02. Following the transaction, the insider owned 757,823 shares in the company, valued at $18,506,037.66. The trade was a 3.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 75,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,779,895. 18.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lifeway Foods

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LWAY. Divisadero Street Capital Management LP bought a new position in Lifeway Foods in the 3rd quarter valued at $17,494,000. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its holdings in shares of Lifeway Foods by 260.4% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 101,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,812,000 after buying an additional 73,203 shares during the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP bought a new position in Lifeway Foods during the third quarter valued at about $1,041,000. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its holdings in Lifeway Foods by 52.6% during the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 98,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,432,000 after buying an additional 33,988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. increased its holdings in Lifeway Foods by 55.5% during the second quarter. GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. now owns 94,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,335,000 after buying an additional 33,800 shares during the last quarter. 36.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lifeway Foods Company Profile

Lifeway Foods, Inc (NASDAQ: LWAY) is a Chicago-based food company specializing in probiotic-rich cultured dairy products. Established in 1986 by Michael Smolyansky, the company pioneered the introduction of kefir to the U.S. market. Under the leadership of CEO Julie Smolyansky, who succeeded her father in 2002, Lifeway has grown from a single product operation into a diversified portfolio of fermented foods and beverages aimed at promoting digestive health and wellness.

The company’s flagship product is kefir, a cultured milk beverage naturally rich in probiotics, vitamins and minerals.