Virtu Financial LLC Buys New Holdings in Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW)

Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 15,988 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,344,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LW. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Lamb Weston during the second quarter worth $2,998,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,121,626 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $94,300,000 after buying an additional 38,970 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its stake in Lamb Weston by 410.4% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 3,731 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $314,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the last quarter. Weik Capital Management raised its holdings in Lamb Weston by 195.5% in the 2nd quarter. Weik Capital Management now owns 10,935 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $919,000 after acquiring an additional 7,235 shares during the period. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Lamb Weston during the second quarter worth approximately $17,744,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on LW shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Lamb Weston from $132.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Lamb Weston from $108.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Lamb Weston from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $115.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $106.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.20.

Insider Transactions at Lamb Weston

In related news, Director William G. Jurgensen purchased 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $55.43 per share, with a total value of $554,300.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 173,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,610,287.11. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.66% of the company’s stock.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

NYSE LW opened at $65.77 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.78, a P/E/G ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $52.99 and a 1 year high of $111.88.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The specialty retailer reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24 by ($0.46). Lamb Weston had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 44.06%. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. will post 4.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 2nd. Lamb Weston’s payout ratio is 19.23%.

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.