Alyeska Investment Group L.P. Acquires Shares of 276,436 Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW)

Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 276,436 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $18,474,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. owned about 0.19% of Lamb Weston as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Lamb Weston during the 4th quarter worth about $223,000. Aristeia Capital L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $312,000. 13D Management LLC bought a new position in Lamb Weston in the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,034,000. Appian Way Asset Management LP bought a new position in Lamb Weston in the 4th quarter valued at $4,499,000. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in Lamb Weston in the 4th quarter valued at $42,752,000. 89.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on LW shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Lamb Weston from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lamb Weston from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $56.00 target price on shares of Lamb Weston and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of Lamb Weston in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lamb Weston presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.64.

Lamb Weston Price Performance

NYSE LW opened at $51.50 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 1.35. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $47.90 and a 52-week high of $89.51. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.31. The stock has a market cap of $7.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.36, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.46.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The specialty retailer reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 5.80% and a return on equity of 27.82%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be paid a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. Lamb Weston’s payout ratio is 58.04%.

Lamb Weston Profile

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.