Lifeway Foods, Inc. $LWAY Shares Sold by GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC.

GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. trimmed its stake in shares of Lifeway Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:LWAY) by 37.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 39,501 shares of the company’s stock after selling 23,245 shares during the period. GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC.’s holdings in Lifeway Foods were worth $957,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its position in shares of Lifeway Foods by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 160,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,895,000 after acquiring an additional 9,400 shares during the period. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lifeway Foods by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 16,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $406,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Lifeway Foods during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $266,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in shares of Lifeway Foods by 302.0% during the 4th quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 2,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 2,229 shares during the period. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lifeway Foods during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $206,000. 36.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LWAY has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lifeway Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Lifeway Foods from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.33.

Lifeway Foods Stock Performance

Shares of Lifeway Foods stock opened at $24.21 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.14 and a quick ratio of 1.56. Lifeway Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.31 and a 1 year high of $34.20. The company has a market capitalization of $369.93 million, a P/E ratio of 24.96 and a beta of 0.53. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $23.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.96.

Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.30. The firm had revenue of $63.01 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.80 million. Lifeway Foods had a return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 6.54%.

Insider Activity at Lifeway Foods

In other Lifeway Foods news, major shareholder Edward Smolyansky sold 14,353 shares of Lifeway Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.77, for a total value of $255,052.81. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,101,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,576,178.34. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Ludmila Smolyansky sold 15,000 shares of Lifeway Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.50, for a total transaction of $397,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 732,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,419,809.50. The trade was a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 75,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,563,125 over the last ninety days. 18.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Lifeway Foods Company Profile

Lifeway Foods, Inc (NASDAQ: LWAY) is a Chicago-based food company specializing in probiotic-rich cultured dairy products. Established in 1986 by Michael Smolyansky, the company pioneered the introduction of kefir to the U.S. market. Under the leadership of CEO Julie Smolyansky, who succeeded her father in 2002, Lifeway has grown from a single product operation into a diversified portfolio of fermented foods and beverages aimed at promoting digestive health and wellness.

The company’s flagship product is kefir, a cultured milk beverage naturally rich in probiotics, vitamins and minerals.