Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) Insider Buys $2,432,500.00 in Stock

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) insider Jan Eli Craps bought 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $48.65 per share, for a total transaction of $2,432,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 300,000 shares in the company, valued at $14,595,000. The trade was a 20.00% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Lamb Weston Trading Up 5.7%

NYSE LW opened at $50.21 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.86. The stock has a market cap of $6.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.06, a P/E/G ratio of 7.66 and a beta of 0.44. Lamb Weston has a 12-month low of $39.79 and a 12-month high of $67.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08.

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. The firm had revenue of $1.62 billion for 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Lamb Weston Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. This is a positive change from Lamb Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.68%.

Institutional Trading of Lamb Weston

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on LW. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $61.00 to $49.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Lamb Weston from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.00.

About Lamb Weston

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.