Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) Stock Rated “Hold” by Wall Street Brokerages

Shares of Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $53.36.

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $52.00 price target on shares of Lamb Weston in a report on Monday, July 27th. Stephens raised their price objective on Lamb Weston from $46.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings raised Lamb Weston from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Lamb Weston from $54.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th.

Lamb Weston Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LW opened at $44.30 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.30, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.47. Lamb Weston has a one year low of $37.62 and a one year high of $67.07. The company’s fifty day moving average is $50.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.42.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The specialty retailer reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 4.39% and a return on equity of 23.33%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. Lamb Weston has set its FY 2027 guidance at 2.950-3.250 EPS. Analysts forecast that Lamb Weston will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. Lamb Weston’s payout ratio is 73.08%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lamb Weston

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LW. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Lamb Weston during the second quarter worth approximately $730,276,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Lamb Weston in the 4th quarter valued at $125,662,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Lamb Weston in the 2nd quarter valued at $51,521,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 350.9% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,451,954 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $61,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,129,918 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,820,000 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $118,130,000 after purchasing an additional 670,000 shares during the period. 89.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Lamb Weston

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc (NYSE: LW) is a food company that produces and distributes frozen potato products. Its portfolio includes frozen french fries, potato wedges, hash browns, tater tots, mashed potatoes, sweet potato products and other specialty potato items.

The company serves restaurants, foodservice distributors, retailers and food manufacturers. Its products are sold under the Lamb Weston, Grown in Idaho and Alexia brands, as well as through private-label and customer-specific offerings.