Jefferies Financial Group Lowers Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) Price Target to $75.00

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) had its price objective reduced by Jefferies Financial Group from $80.00 to $75.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Lamb Weston to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Barclays dropped their target price on Lamb Weston from $87.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Lamb Weston in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Lamb Weston from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One 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 MarketBeat.com, Lamb Weston presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.27.

Lamb Weston Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE LW opened at $54.62 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $54.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.03. Lamb Weston has a 1-year low of $47.90 and a 1-year high of $89.51. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $7.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.48.

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

Lamb Weston Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. Lamb Weston’s payout ratio is 58.04%.

Institutional Trading of Lamb Weston

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LW. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Lamb Weston by 3,466.7% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 535 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the last quarter. West Oak Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 155.7% in the 4th quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 450 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the period. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Lamb Weston during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Lamb Weston during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

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.