Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) Price Target to $66.00

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) had its target price reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $66.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com raised Lamb Weston to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Lamb Weston from $87.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lamb Weston has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.09.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

LW opened at $59.11 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. The firm has a market cap of $8.43 billion, a PE ratio of 23.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.57. Lamb Weston has a fifty-two week low of $47.90 and a fifty-two week high of $89.51.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The specialty retailer reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 27.82% and a net margin of 5.80%. Lamb Weston’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 2nd. Lamb Weston’s payout ratio is presently 58.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert A. Niblock bought 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $60.94 per share, for a total transaction of $182,820.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 26,406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,609,181.64. This represents a 12.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Lamb Weston by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,646,887 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,112,511,000 after purchasing an additional 58,066 shares during the last quarter. JANA Partners Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. JANA Partners Management LP now owns 7,131,339 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $476,587,000 after buying an additional 1,302,585 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new position in Lamb Weston in the 4th quarter valued at $423,270,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Lamb Weston by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,221,665 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $402,791,000 after acquiring an additional 549,812 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its position in Lamb Weston by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,477,165 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $232,330,000 after acquiring an additional 735,901 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

Lamb Weston Company 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.