Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. Has $43.26 Million Stock Holdings in Lamb Weston $LW

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) by 34.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 744,840 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 387,269 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. owned 0.53% of Lamb Weston worth $43,260,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LW. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 1.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,801,585 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $300,812,000 after purchasing an additional 63,865 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Lamb Weston during the 2nd quarter worth $119,413,000. Gates Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Lamb Weston by 49.8% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP boosted its position in Lamb Weston by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP now owns 2,000,000 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $106,600,000 after buying an additional 97,757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ion Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston in the 2nd quarter valued at $84,379,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Lamb Weston in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $66.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of Lamb Weston from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.18.

Lamb Weston Stock Down 0.7%

Lamb Weston stock opened at $42.20 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.18, a PEG ratio of 6.23 and a beta of 0.44. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.70. 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 fifty-two week low of $41.41 and a fifty-two week high of $68.61.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last posted its earnings results on Friday, December 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.01. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 6.06% and a return on equity of 27.71%. The company had revenue of $1.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 EPS for the current year.

Lamb Weston Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a boost from Lamb Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.68%.

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.