Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW – Get Rating) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $96.80.

Several equities research analysts have commented on LW shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lamb Weston from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 16th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $105.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Friday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $101.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $90.00 to $107.00 in a research note on Friday, January 6th.

Lamb Weston Price Performance

LW opened at $101.98 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $97.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.90. Lamb Weston has a fifty-two week low of $49.71 and a fifty-two week high of $102.77. The firm has a market cap of $14.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.71.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 5th. The specialty retailer reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.54. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 10.50% and a return on equity of 107.83%. The company had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lamb Weston will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Lamb Weston Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. This is a boost from Lamb Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 2nd. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Eryk J. Spytek sold 19,080 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.22, for a total value of $1,683,237.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 41,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,644,544.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Lamb Weston news, VP Gregory W. Jones sold 1,000 shares of Lamb Weston stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.49, for a total transaction of $97,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 6,384 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $622,376.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Eryk J. Spytek sold 19,080 shares of Lamb Weston stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.22, for a total transaction of $1,683,237.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 41,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,644,544.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 43,514 shares of company stock worth $4,100,600. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Huntington National Bank grew its position in Lamb Weston by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,531 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC boosted its position in Lamb Weston by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 7,456 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $666,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund raised its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund now owns 19,967 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,784,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments raised its position in Lamb Weston by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 23,676 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,116,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 16.8% in the third quarter. RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC now owns 862 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.87% of the company’s stock.

Lamb Weston Company Profile

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Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc engages in the production, distribution, and marketing of value-added frozen potato products. It operates through the following business segments: Global, Foodservice, Retail, and Other. The Global segment includes branded and private label frozen potato products sold in North America and international markets.