Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) Shares Acquired by Ethic Inc.

Ethic Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) by 503.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,602 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,541 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Lamb Weston were worth $2,446,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,646,887 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,112,511,000 after purchasing an additional 58,066 shares during the period. JANA Partners Management LP boosted its stake in Lamb Weston by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. JANA Partners Management LP now owns 7,131,339 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $476,587,000 after purchasing an additional 1,302,585 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new position in Lamb Weston during the 4th quarter worth $423,270,000. Boston Partners increased its stake in Lamb Weston by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,477,165 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $232,330,000 after purchasing an additional 735,901 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,436,604 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $229,065,000 after buying an additional 48,548 shares during the last quarter. 89.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Lamb Weston Trading Down 1.3%

NYSE:LW opened at $50.80 on Monday. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $47.90 and a 1 year high of $89.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $53.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $62.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.08, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.46.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $1.52 billion during 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. Lamb Weston’s payout ratio is 58.04%.

Lamb Weston Company 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.