Czech National Bank Acquires 1,652 Shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW)

Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,919 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,652 shares during the period. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Lamb Weston were worth $2,066,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LW. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston in the 2nd quarter valued at $396,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Lamb Weston by 88.7% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,591 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $890,000 after buying an additional 4,979 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Lamb Weston by 43.6% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 650,509 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $54,695,000 after buying an additional 197,621 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 410.4% during the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 3,731 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $314,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 3.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,121,626 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $94,300,000 after acquiring an additional 38,970 shares during the last quarter. 89.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Lamb Weston

In other news, Director Charles A. Blixt purchased 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $63.25 per share, with a total value of $75,900.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 22,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,453,611.50. This represents a 5.51 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert A. Niblock acquired 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $60.94 per share, with a total value of $182,820.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,406 shares in the company, valued at $1,609,181.64. This represents a 12.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Lamb Weston Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE LW opened at $58.99 on Friday. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $52.99 and a fifty-two week high of $110.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.66.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by ($0.35). Lamb Weston had a net margin of 5.80% and a return on equity of 27.82%. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.45 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. will post 3.11 EPS for the current year.

Lamb Weston Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.51%. This is a boost from Lamb Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Lamb Weston in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $85.00 price target for the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Citigroup cut shares of Lamb Weston from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $81.00.

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.