Fisher Funds Management LTD Reduces Stock Position in Lamb Weston $LW

Fisher Funds Management LTD lessened its position in shares of Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) by 39.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 14,834 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 9,832 shares during the quarter. Fisher Funds Management LTD’s holdings in Lamb Weston were worth $769,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Lamb Weston by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,072,932 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $909,987,000 after purchasing an additional 426,045 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Lamb Weston by 49.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,500,503 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $239,877,000 after purchasing an additional 1,483,559 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Lamb Weston by 25.7% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,055,902 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $216,180,000 after purchasing an additional 829,207 shares during the last quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Lamb Weston by 21.1% during the 1st quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,721,559 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $198,359,000 after purchasing an additional 648,855 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gates Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Lamb Weston by 49.8% during the 1st quarter. Gates Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,016,142 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $107,460,000 after purchasing an additional 670,611 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on LW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Lamb Weston in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $57.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Lamb Weston from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Bank of America upped their target price on Lamb Weston from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Lamb Weston from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Lamb Weston from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.70.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

NYSE LW opened at $61.73 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.54, a PEG ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.52. Lamb Weston has a twelve month low of $47.87 and a twelve month high of $83.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $59.85 and a 200 day moving average of $55.59.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 24th. The specialty retailer reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 28.08% and a net margin of 4.56%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.81%.

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.