Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) Major Shareholder Ludmila Smolyansky Sells 10,000 Shares of Stock

Lifeway Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:LWAY) major shareholder Ludmila Smolyansky sold 10,000 shares of Lifeway Foods stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.74, for a total transaction of $187,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 747,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,014,203.02. This trade represents a 1.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

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

• On Tuesday, December 23rd, Ludmila Smolyansky sold 26,431 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.42, for a total transaction of $645,445.02.

Lifeway Foods Trading Down 3.6%

LWAY traded down $0.66 on Thursday, hitting $17.83. 62,662 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 48,918. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $21.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.30. Lifeway Foods, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.49 and a twelve month high of $34.20. The firm has a market cap of $271.55 million, a PE ratio of 19.81 and a beta of 0.13.

Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 17th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $55.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.00 million. Lifeway Foods had a net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 17.65%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lifeway Foods

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Divisadero Street Capital Management LP bought a new position in Lifeway Foods in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $17,494,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL raised its stake in Lifeway Foods by 73.0% during the 4th quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 163,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,958,000 after acquiring an additional 68,956 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its stake in Lifeway Foods by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 160,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,895,000 after acquiring an additional 9,400 shares in the last quarter. Slotnik Capital LLC boosted its position in Lifeway Foods by 9.2% during 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. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Lifeway Foods by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,267,000 after purchasing an additional 4,300 shares in the last quarter. 36.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $35.00 price objective on Lifeway Foods in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Lifeway Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lifeway Foods in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Lifeway Foods in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lifeway Foods has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.