Alberta Investment Management Corp Grows Stake in Lamb Weston $LW

Alberta Investment Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) by 291.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 391,700 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 291,700 shares during the quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp owned approximately 0.28% of Lamb Weston worth $20,310,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,072,932 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $909,987,000 after buying an additional 426,045 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Lamb Weston by 49.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,500,503 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $239,877,000 after buying an additional 1,483,559 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Lamb Weston by 25.7% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,055,902 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $216,180,000 after acquiring an additional 829,207 shares during the last quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Lamb Weston by 21.1% in the 1st quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,721,559 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $198,359,000 after purchasing an additional 648,855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gates Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Lamb Weston by 49.8% during the first quarter. Gates Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,016,142 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $107,460,000 after buying an additional 670,611 shares in the last quarter. 89.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on LW shares. Barclays increased their target price on Lamb Weston from $61.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Zacks Research raised shares of Lamb Weston from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Lamb Weston in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.70.

Lamb Weston Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of LW stock opened at $56.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $60.61 and a 200-day moving average of $56.15. Lamb Weston has a 52-week low of $47.87 and a 52-week high of $83.98. The stock has a market cap of $7.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.51.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 24th. The specialty retailer reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 4.56% and a return on equity of 28.08%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.81%.

Lamb Weston Profile

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.