London Co. of Virginia Decreases Position in Lamb Weston $LW

London Co. of Virginia decreased its holdings in Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) by 4.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,389,011 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 101,342 shares during the quarter. London Co. of Virginia owned about 1.71% of Lamb Weston worth $138,754,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in Lamb Weston by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,801,585 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $300,812,000 after buying an additional 63,865 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Lamb Weston by 2.5% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,286,305 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $190,869,000 after acquiring an additional 79,257 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston during the second quarter worth about $119,413,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 46.3% during the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,150,000 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $124,872,000 after acquiring an additional 680,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 23.8% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,968,872 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $114,320,000 after acquiring an additional 378,264 shares in the last quarter. 89.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Lamb Weston in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $66.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.00.

Lamb Weston Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LW opened at $39.87 on Tuesday. Lamb Weston has a twelve month low of $39.69 and a twelve month high of $67.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. The company has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a PE ratio of 14.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.43. The company’s 50 day moving average is $45.58 and its 200 day moving average is $53.29.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, December 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 6.06% and a return on equity of 27.71%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 EPS for the current year.

Lamb Weston Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a boost from Lamb Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. Lamb Weston’s payout ratio is presently 54.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lamb Weston news, insider Jan Eli B. Craps purchased 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $48.65 per share, with a total value of $2,432,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 300,000 shares in the company, valued at $14,595,000. This trade represents a 20.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Lamb Weston 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.