Lamb Weston $LW Shares Sold by Envestnet Asset Management Inc.

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) by 3.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 768,299 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 23,648 shares during the quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Lamb Weston were worth $44,623,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC acquired a new position in Lamb Weston during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $400,000. Liberty One Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 86.1% in the 3rd quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 960,639 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $55,859,000 after acquiring an additional 444,328 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Lamb Weston by 29.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 912,668 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $47,322,000 after acquiring an additional 207,210 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in Lamb Weston during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,611,000. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its stake in Lamb Weston by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 1,279,345 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $74,304,000 after purchasing an additional 212,504 shares during the last quarter. 89.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Lamb Weston in a research report on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Lamb Weston from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Lamb Weston from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lamb Weston currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.00.

Lamb Weston Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Lamb Weston stock opened at $50.55 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 1.43. Lamb Weston has a fifty-two week low of $39.79 and a fifty-two week high of $67.07. The company has a market cap of $7.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.75 and a beta of 0.45.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, December 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 27.71% and a net margin of 6.06%.Lamb Weston’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. This is a positive change from Lamb Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.68%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jan Eli B. Craps purchased 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $48.65 per share, with a total value of $2,432,500.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 300,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,595,000. The trade was a 20.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Lamb Weston

Lamb Weston, traded on the NYSE under the symbol LW, is a leading global processor and supplier of frozen potato products. The company’s portfolio includes a variety of potato-based items such as French fries, potato wedges, hash browns and specialty cuts tailored to the foodservice and retail grocery channels. Lamb Weston serves quick-service restaurants, full-service operators, grocery chains and food distributors, offering customized product formats, packaging solutions and seasoning options to meet evolving customer demands.

Founded in 1950 and headquartered in Eagle, Idaho, Lamb Weston has grown from a regional processor into one of the world’s largest producers of frozen potato products.