Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) Receives $69.91 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the twelve brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $69.91.

Several brokerages have weighed in on LW. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $69.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of Lamb Weston in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Lamb Weston from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $56.00 price objective on Lamb Weston and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Lamb Weston from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th.

Lamb Weston Price Performance

NYSE LW opened at $54.79 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $53.23 and its 200 day moving average is $58.40. Lamb Weston has a fifty-two week low of $47.90 and a fifty-two week high of $87.94. 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 company has a market capitalization of $7.73 billion, a PE ratio of 21.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.49.

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

Lamb Weston Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.04%.

Institutional Trading of Lamb Weston

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LW. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new stake in Lamb Weston in the fourth quarter worth $423,270,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 49.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,500,503 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $239,877,000 after buying an additional 1,483,559 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston in the 4th quarter worth about $96,736,000. JANA Partners Management LP raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $476,587,000 after buying an additional 1,302,585 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Continental Grain Co. purchased a new stake in Lamb Weston during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,786,000. 89.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.