Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) Price Target to $66.00

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) had its target price decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $66.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on LW. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Lamb Weston in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Lamb Weston to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Lamb Weston in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $85.00 target price for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced 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 report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.09.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

Lamb Weston stock opened at $59.11 on Wednesday. Lamb Weston has a 52 week low of $47.90 and a 52 week high of $89.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. The stock has a market cap of $8.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $55.22 and a 200-day moving average of $65.57.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The specialty retailer reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 5.80% and a return on equity of 27.82%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be paid a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. Lamb Weston’s payout ratio is currently 58.50%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert A. Niblock acquired 3,000 shares of Lamb Weston stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $60.94 per share, with a total value of $182,820.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 26,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,609,181.64. This trade represents a 12.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lamb Weston

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in Lamb Weston in the fourth quarter worth approximately $423,270,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Lamb Weston during the 4th quarter valued at $96,736,000. JANA Partners Management LP raised its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 22.3% in the 4th quarter. JANA Partners Management LP now owns 7,131,339 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $476,587,000 after buying an additional 1,302,585 shares in the last quarter. Continental Grain Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston in the fourth quarter valued at $63,786,000. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its stake in Lamb Weston by 26.8% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,477,165 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $232,330,000 after buying an additional 735,901 shares in the last quarter. 89.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.