Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) Major Shareholder Sells $1,352,514.40 in Stock

Lifeway Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:LWAY) major shareholder Ludmila Smolyansky sold 45,616 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.65, for a total transaction of $1,352,514.40. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 607,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,003,687.55. This trade represents a 6.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Ludmila Smolyansky also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, June 24th, Ludmila Smolyansky sold 40,000 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.12, for a total transaction of $1,204,800.00.
• On Friday, May 15th, Ludmila Smolyansky sold 20,000 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.64, for a total value of $492,800.00.
• On Monday, April 20th, Ludmila Smolyansky sold 15,000 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.50, for a total value of $397,500.00.

Lifeway Foods Price Performance

LWAY stock traded down $0.91 during trading on Friday, hitting $29.42. The company had a trading volume of 482,721 shares, compared to its average volume of 95,436. The business has a 50 day moving average of $25.48 and a 200 day moving average of $23.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $449.54 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.33 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 2.14, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Lifeway Foods, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.31 and a fifty-two week high of $34.20.

Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.30. The firm had revenue of $63.01 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.80 million. Lifeway Foods had a net margin of 6.54% and a return on equity of 17.76%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lifeway Foods

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LWAY. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Lifeway Foods by 8.2% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 6,068 shares of the company’s stock worth $148,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in Lifeway Foods by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 9,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $257,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Lifeway Foods by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,000 after acquiring an additional 659 shares during the period. State of Wyoming grew its position in shares of Lifeway Foods by 9.0% in the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 9,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,000 after purchasing an additional 747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lifeway Foods by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 16,750 shares of the company’s stock worth $406,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.39% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LWAY. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Lifeway Foods in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered Lifeway Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Lifeway Foods from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.33.

About Lifeway Foods

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.