Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.36 (NYSE:LW)

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 20th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.36 per share by the specialty retailer on Friday, May 31st. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 2nd.

Lamb Weston has raised its dividend payment by an average of 6.8% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 6 consecutive years. Lamb Weston has a dividend payout ratio of 21.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Lamb Weston to earn $6.17 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.3%.

Lamb Weston Price Performance

NYSE:LW opened at $83.34 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.13, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.72. Lamb Weston has a 1 year low of $77.41 and a 1 year high of $117.38. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $94.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $98.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.52.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 4th. The specialty retailer reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.40 by ($0.20). The company had revenue of $1.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 16.71% and a return on equity of 50.74%. Lamb Weston’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.43 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Lamb Weston will post 5.54 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LW. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Lamb Weston from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Barclays reduced their price target on Lamb Weston from $125.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Lamb Weston from $128.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Citigroup cut their price target on Lamb Weston from $132.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on Lamb Weston from $138.00 to $113.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $117.40.

About Lamb Weston

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc produces, distributes, and markets frozen potato products worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Global, Foodservice, Retail, and Other. It offers frozen potatoes, commercial ingredients, and appetizers under the Lamb Weston brand, as well as under various customer labels.