13,580 Shares in Lamb Weston $LW Purchased by Alps Advisors Inc.

Alps Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 13,580 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $789,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LW. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 115.5% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 446 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new position in Lamb Weston during the third quarter worth $29,000. Motco purchased a new stake in Lamb Weston during the third quarter worth $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Lamb Weston by 333.3% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 637 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. Finally, City State Bank increased its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 86.8% in the second quarter. City State Bank now owns 779 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jan Eli B. Craps bought 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $48.65 per share, with a total value of $2,432,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 300,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,595,000. This trade represents a 20.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on LW. BNP Paribas Exane set a $48.00 price target on shares of Lamb Weston in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Lamb Weston in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Lamb Weston from $63.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Barclays cut their price target on Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Lamb Weston from $61.00 to $49.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.00.

Lamb Weston Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Lamb Weston stock opened at $50.28 on Friday. Lamb Weston has a twelve month low of $39.79 and a twelve month high of $67.07. The stock has a market cap of $6.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.50 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $47.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.67.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, December 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 6.06% and a return on equity of 27.71%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Increases Dividend

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

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.