Osaic Holdings Inc. Raises Holdings in Lamb Weston $LW

Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) by 77.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,590 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,095 shares during the quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Lamb Weston were worth $2,990,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 23.9% during the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,823 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,123 shares during the period. Eisler Capital Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Lamb Weston during the first quarter worth $308,000. MAI Capital Management grew its position in Lamb Weston by 91.2% during the first quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 4,044 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $216,000 after buying an additional 1,929 shares during the period. Gates Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Lamb Weston by 49.8% in the first quarter. Gates Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,016,142 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $107,460,000 after buying an additional 670,611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Lamb Weston in the first quarter worth about $1,687,000. 89.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on LW. BNP Paribas Exane cut Lamb Weston from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Lamb Weston from $66.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Zacks Research cut shares of Lamb Weston from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.18.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LW opened at $42.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.64. Lamb Weston has a 1 year low of $41.41 and a 1 year high of $68.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a PE ratio of 15.18, a P/E/G ratio of 6.28 and a beta of 0.44. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $58.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.69.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, December 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.01. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 27.71% and a net margin of 6.06%.The company had revenue of $1.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Lamb Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.24%.

Lamb Weston Company Profile

Lamb Weston, traded on the NYSE under the symbol LW, is a leading global processor and supplier of frozen potato products. The company’s portfolio includes a variety of potato-based items such as French fries, potato wedges, hash browns and specialty cuts tailored to the foodservice and retail grocery channels. Lamb Weston serves quick-service restaurants, full-service operators, grocery chains and food distributors, offering customized product formats, packaging solutions and seasoning options to meet evolving customer demands.

Founded in 1950 and headquartered in Eagle, Idaho, Lamb Weston has grown from a regional processor into one of the world’s largest producers of frozen potato products.