Diversified Trust Co Lowers Stake in Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW)

Diversified Trust Co trimmed its stake in Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,440 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 271 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co’s holdings in Lamb Weston were worth $631,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in LW. City State Bank raised its holdings in Lamb Weston by 56.2% in the third quarter. City State Bank now owns 417 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of Lamb Weston during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in Lamb Weston during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. CVA Family Office LLC boosted its stake in Lamb Weston by 143.8% in the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 573 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in Lamb Weston in the third quarter worth $39,000. 89.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on LW shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Citigroup lowered Lamb Weston from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $81.00.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

Shares of LW stock opened at $60.83 on Friday. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $52.99 and a 52-week high of $110.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The stock has a market cap of $8.68 billion, a PE ratio of 14.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.73. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.51.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by ($0.35). The company had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 34.33%. The company’s revenue was down 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. will post 4.26 EPS for the current year.

Lamb Weston Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change from Lamb Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lamb Weston

In other Lamb Weston news, Director Charles A. Blixt acquired 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $63.25 per share, for a total transaction of $75,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,453,611.50. This represents a 5.51 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.72% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Lamb Weston Company 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.