Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) Major Shareholder Sells 38,452 Shares

Lifeway Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:LWAY) major shareholder Edward Smolyansky sold 38,452 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.85, for a total value of $1,147,792.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,014,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,273,571.50. This represents a 3.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Edward Smolyansky also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, June 22nd, Edward Smolyansky sold 50,000 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.20, for a total value of $1,310,000.00.
• On Friday, May 15th, Edward Smolyansky sold 24,000 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.87, for a total transaction of $596,880.00.
• On Thursday, May 14th, Edward Smolyansky sold 25,000 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.34, for a total transaction of $633,500.00.

Lifeway Foods Stock Down 3.0%

Lifeway Foods stock traded down $0.91 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $29.42. The company had a trading volume of 482,721 shares, compared to its average volume of 95,436. Lifeway Foods, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.31 and a fifty-two week high of $34.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.14 and a quick ratio of 1.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $449.54 million, a P/E ratio of 30.33 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $25.48 and its 200-day moving average is $23.23.

Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.30. Lifeway Foods had a net margin of 6.54% and a return on equity of 17.76%. The business had revenue of $63.01 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.80 million.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lifeway Foods

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LWAY. Divisadero Street Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Lifeway Foods during the 3rd quarter worth $17,494,000. Slotnik Capital LLC raised its holdings in Lifeway Foods by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Slotnik Capital LLC now owns 141,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,935,000 after acquiring an additional 11,921 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its holdings in Lifeway Foods by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 151,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,201,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Teton Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Lifeway Foods during the 3rd quarter worth $225,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd lifted its position in Lifeway Foods by 40.2% during the 1st quarter. R Squared Ltd now owns 15,381 shares of the company’s stock worth $297,000 after acquiring an additional 4,413 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 36.39% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on LWAY shares. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Lifeway Foods in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Lifeway Foods from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lifeway Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.33.

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.