Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $53.00.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. BNP Paribas Exane set a $48.00 price objective on Lamb Weston in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Lamb Weston from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $63.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Lamb Weston in a report on Monday, December 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jan Eli B. Craps purchased 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $48.65 per share, with a total value of $2,432,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 300,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,595,000. This trade represents a 20.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lamb Weston

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston during the 2nd quarter valued at about $400,000. Liberty One Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 86.1% in the third quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 960,639 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $55,859,000 after purchasing an additional 444,328 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 29.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 912,668 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $47,322,000 after purchasing an additional 207,210 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in Lamb Weston in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,611,000. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 212,504 shares in the last quarter. 89.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lamb Weston Price Performance

Shares of Lamb Weston stock opened at $40.49 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The company has a market cap of $5.62 billion, a PE ratio of 14.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.04 and a beta of 0.43. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $45.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.45. Lamb Weston has a fifty-two week low of $39.79 and a fifty-two week high of $67.07.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, December 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 27.71% and a net margin of 6.06%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. Analysts expect that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 EPS for the current year.

Lamb Weston Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. This is a boost from Lamb Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.68%.

Lamb Weston Company Profile

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.