Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) Shares Up 3.6% on Analyst Upgrade

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) shares shot up 3.6% during mid-day trading on Monday after Zacks Research upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating. The stock traded as high as $49.93 and last traded at $49.6130. 645,273 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 2,258,738 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.87.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $53.00 target price on shares of Lamb Weston in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $57.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $42.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Lamb Weston from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.82.

Institutional Trading of Lamb Weston

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LW. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Lamb Weston in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $730,276,000. JANA Partners Management LP boosted its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 7.7% in the second quarter. JANA Partners Management LP now owns 5,394,635 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $232,940,000 after acquiring an additional 386,000 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 6.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,869,644 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $210,271,000 after acquiring an additional 294,120 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 28.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,742,208 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $115,865,000 after acquiring an additional 601,171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 7.7% in the third quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 1,811,598 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $75,526,000 after acquiring an additional 129,243 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $49.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.31. The firm has a market cap of $7.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 6th. The specialty retailer reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 3.85% and a return on equity of 23.27%. Lamb Weston’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. Lamb Weston has set its FY 2027 guidance at 3.050-3.350 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Lamb Weston will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Lamb Weston Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 6th will be given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 6th. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 83.06%.

Lamb Weston Company Profile

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc (NYSE: LW) is a global producer and marketer of frozen potato products. The company supplies French fries, potato wedges, hash browns, potato rounds, mashed potatoes and other specialty potato products to restaurants, foodservice distributors, retailers and food manufacturers.

Its product portfolio includes conventional and specialty frozen potato offerings, as well as sweet potato products and appetizer items. Lamb Weston sells products under its Lamb Weston and Grown in Idaho brands, while also providing private-label products for retail and foodservice customers.

The company’s history dates to the 1950s, when it began producing frozen potato products in the Pacific Northwest.