StockNews.com Begins Coverage on Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW)

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW – Get Rating) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on LW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $101.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, January 6th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $105.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Friday, January 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $90.00 to $107.00 in a research report on Friday, January 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Lamb Weston has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $96.80.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

NYSE:LW opened at $97.31 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $98.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $89.11. Lamb Weston has a twelve month low of $53.30 and a twelve month high of $102.77. The company has a market capitalization of $14.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.51.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 5th. The specialty retailer reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.54. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 10.50% and a return on equity of 107.83%. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Lamb Weston will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Gregory W. Jones sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.49, for a total transaction of $97,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,384 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $622,376.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, VP Gregory W. Jones sold 1,000 shares of Lamb Weston stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.49, for a total transaction of $97,490.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,384 shares in the company, valued at approximately $622,376.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bernadette M. Madarieta sold 6,500 shares of Lamb Weston stock in a transaction on Monday, January 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.40, for a total transaction of $639,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 25,487 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,507,920.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 43,514 shares of company stock valued at $4,100,600 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lamb Weston

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Lamb Weston by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,395,925 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,268,717,000 after buying an additional 146,496 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Lamb Weston by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,224,012 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $312,971,000 after buying an additional 172,399 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in Lamb Weston by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,606,920 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $257,750,000 after buying an additional 30,592 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Lamb Weston by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,974,490 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $265,320,000 after buying an additional 154,606 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Lamb Weston by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,751,402 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $245,865,000 after buying an additional 199,088 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.87% of the company’s stock.

Lamb Weston Company Profile

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Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc engages in the production, distribution, and marketing of value-added frozen potato products. It operates through the following business segments: Global, Foodservice, Retail, and Other. The Global segment includes branded and private label frozen potato products sold in North America and international markets.