Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 11,511 Shares of Lamb Weston $LW

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) by 78.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 26,114 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,511 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Lamb Weston were worth $1,354,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LW. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 15.6% during the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 193,932 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $10,337,000 after purchasing an additional 26,180 shares during the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. increased its position in Lamb Weston by 22.7% in the 1st quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 52,347 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,790,000 after buying an additional 9,699 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 2.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,072,932 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $909,987,000 after buying an additional 426,045 shares during the last quarter. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. bought a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston in the first quarter valued at approximately $199,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 1.1% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,243,560 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $66,282,000 after acquiring an additional 13,960 shares during the last quarter. 89.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on LW shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Lamb Weston from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their target price on Lamb Weston from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Lamb Weston from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lamb Weston presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.70.

Lamb Weston Price Performance

NYSE:LW opened at $59.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.49. The company has a 50-day moving average of $61.35 and a 200-day moving average of $56.81. Lamb Weston has a 52 week low of $47.87 and a 52 week high of $83.98. The company has a market capitalization of $8.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.44.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 24th. The specialty retailer reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 4.56% and a return on equity of 28.08%. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 31st. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.81%.

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.