Capital Research Global Investors Raises Holdings in Lamb Weston $LW

Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) by 46.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,150,000 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 680,000 shares during the quarter. Capital Research Global Investors owned 1.54% of Lamb Weston worth $124,872,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LW. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,801,585 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $300,812,000 after purchasing an additional 63,865 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston during the 2nd quarter worth about $119,413,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Lamb Weston by 23.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,968,872 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $114,320,000 after purchasing an additional 378,264 shares in the last quarter. Ion Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Lamb Weston during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $84,379,000. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC raised its holdings in Lamb Weston by 19.9% in the third quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 1,279,345 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $74,304,000 after buying an additional 212,504 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LW. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Lamb Weston in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $63.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Lamb Weston from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.00.

Insider Transactions at Lamb Weston

In related news, insider Jan Eli B. Craps acquired 50,000 shares of Lamb Weston stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $48.65 per share, for a total transaction of $2,432,500.00. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 300,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,595,000. The trade was a 20.00% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Lamb Weston Trading Down 2.3%

NYSE:LW opened at $43.45 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $6.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.64 and a beta of 0.43. Lamb Weston has a one year low of $39.79 and a one year high of $67.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 1.43. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $45.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.65.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, December 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 27.71% and a net margin of 6.06%.Lamb Weston’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th were paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. This is a boost from Lamb Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. Lamb Weston’s payout ratio is presently 54.68%.

About Lamb Weston

Lamb Weston, traded on the NYSE under the symbol LW, is a leading global processor and supplier of frozen potato products. The company’s portfolio includes a variety of potato-based items such as French fries, potato wedges, hash browns and specialty cuts tailored to the foodservice and retail grocery channels. Lamb Weston serves quick-service restaurants, full-service operators, grocery chains and food distributors, offering customized product formats, packaging solutions and seasoning options to meet evolving customer demands.

Founded in 1950 and headquartered in Eagle, Idaho, Lamb Weston has grown from a regional processor into one of the world’s largest producers of frozen potato products.