Insider Selling: Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) Major Shareholder Sells 24,000 Shares of Stock

Lifeway Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:LWAY) major shareholder Edward Smolyansky sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.87, for a total value of $596,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,052,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,179,206.54. This represents a 2.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Major shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

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

• On Thursday, May 14th, Edward Smolyansky sold 25,000 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.34, for a total value of $633,500.00.
• On Thursday, March 19th, Edward Smolyansky sold 14,353 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.77, for a total value of $255,052.81.
• On Tuesday, March 17th, Edward Smolyansky sold 22,313 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.10, for a total value of $448,491.30.
• On Monday, March 16th, Edward Smolyansky sold 13,334 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.60, for a total value of $274,680.40.

Lifeway Foods Stock Performance

Shares of Lifeway Foods stock traded down $0.41 during trading on Monday, hitting $23.80. 287,819 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 75,706. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.14 and a quick ratio of 1.56. Lifeway Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.31 and a 1 year high of $34.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $363.66 million, a P/E ratio of 24.54 and a beta of 0.53. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.96.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Lifeway Foods in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Lifeway Foods by 577.3% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,322 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Lifeway Foods in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in Lifeway Foods by 433.3% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 1,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its holdings in Lifeway Foods by 302.0% in the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 2,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 2,229 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 36.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on LWAY. Weiss Ratings raised Lifeway Foods from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen cut Lifeway Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company 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.