Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on LW. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $87.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of Lamb Weston in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $63.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.27.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

LW stock opened at $52.46 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $53.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. Lamb Weston has a 12 month low of $47.90 and a 12 month high of $89.51. The company has a market capitalization of $7.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.48.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The specialty retailer reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 27.82% and a net margin of 5.80%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be issued a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 2nd. Lamb Weston’s payout ratio is 58.04%.

Institutional Trading of Lamb Weston

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alberta Investment Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Lamb Weston in the fourth quarter worth $2,641,000. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston in the 4th quarter worth $2,850,000. Leeward Investments LLC MA raised its position in Lamb Weston by 41.5% in the 4th quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 156,473 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $10,457,000 after buying an additional 45,904 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Lamb Weston by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,343 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $892,000 after buying an additional 817 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Lamb Weston by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,229,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $82,174,000 after acquiring an additional 16,092 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

About Lamb Weston

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc produces, distributes, and markets frozen potato products worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Global, Foodservice, Retail, and Other. It offers frozen potatoes, commercial ingredients, and appetizers under the Lamb Weston brand, as well as under various customer labels.