M&T Bank Corp Boosts Position in Lamb Weston $LW

M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) by 45,177.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,835,245 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 2,828,983 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Lamb Weston were worth $118,768,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LW. AlphaQuest LLC raised its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 115.5% in the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 446 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston in the third quarter worth $29,000. Motco purchased a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston in the third quarter worth $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 333.3% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 637 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston in the fourth quarter worth $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Lamb Weston

In other news, insider Jan Eli B. Craps bought 50,000 shares of Lamb Weston stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $48.65 per share, with a total value of $2,432,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 300,000 shares in the company, valued at $14,595,000. The trade was a 20.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jana Partners Management, Lp bought 136,000 shares of Lamb Weston stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $40.89 per share, for a total transaction of $5,561,040.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 5,148,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $210,541,792.20. The trade was a 2.71% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have bought a total of 441,000 shares of company stock valued at $18,703,290 over the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on Lamb Weston from $55.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Lamb Weston from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded Lamb Weston from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Lamb Weston from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Lamb Weston from $54.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lamb Weston currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.00.

Lamb Weston Stock Down 2.6%

LW opened at $44.83 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $6.19 billion, a PE ratio of 20.95, a P/E/G ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. Lamb Weston has a 52 week low of $37.62 and a 52 week high of $67.07. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.50.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 1st. The specialty retailer reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.49 billion. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 4.61%.The firm’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Lamb Weston will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 8th. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.03%.

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.