Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Lamb Weston from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Lamb Weston in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $63.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $61.00 to $49.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

Shares of LW opened at $45.64 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.87 and a beta of 0.43. The company’s fifty day moving average is $45.44 and its 200-day moving average is $53.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. Lamb Weston has a 12 month low of $39.79 and a 12 month high of $67.07.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, December 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 6.06% and a return on equity of 27.71%. Lamb Weston’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is an increase from Lamb Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lamb Weston

In other news, insider Jan Eli B. Craps bought 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $48.65 per share, with a total value of $2,432,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 300,000 shares in the company, valued at $14,595,000. This represents a 20.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lamb Weston

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LW. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston during the second quarter worth approximately $400,000. Liberty One Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Lamb Weston by 86.1% during the 3rd quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 960,639 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $55,859,000 after acquiring an additional 444,328 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 29.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 912,668 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $47,322,000 after acquiring an additional 207,210 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,611,000. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 1,279,345 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $74,304,000 after purchasing an additional 212,504 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

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.