Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) Shares Up 3.6% – Still a Buy?

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) shares traded up 3.6% during mid-day trading on Monday. The company traded as high as $49.93 and last traded at $49.6130. Approximately 645,273 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 2,258,738 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.87.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on LW. Wall Street Zen downgraded Lamb Weston from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $53.00 price target on shares of Lamb Weston in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings downgraded Lamb Weston from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Lamb Weston from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Lamb Weston from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lamb Weston currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.82.

Lamb Weston Trading Up 4.5%

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $49.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.17. The company has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.45.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 6th. The specialty retailer reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.16. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 3.85% and a return on equity of 23.27%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. Lamb Weston’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. Lamb Weston has set its FY 2027 guidance at 3.050-3.350 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Lamb Weston will post 3.23 EPS for the current year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 6th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 6th. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio is presently 83.06%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lamb Weston

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LW. Wedmont Private Capital bought a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston during the 3rd quarter worth about $216,000. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 1,811,598 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $75,526,000 after acquiring an additional 129,243 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 58.7% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,408 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $184,000 after acquiring an additional 1,631 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,017 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 1,024 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Lamb Weston by 27.0% in the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,930 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261 shares during the last quarter. 89.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Lamb Weston

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc (NYSE: LW) is a global producer and marketer of frozen potato products. The company supplies French fries, potato wedges, hash browns, potato rounds, mashed potatoes and other specialty potato products to restaurants, foodservice distributors, retailers and food manufacturers.

Its product portfolio includes conventional and specialty frozen potato offerings, as well as sweet potato products and appetizer items. Lamb Weston sells products under its Lamb Weston and Grown in Idaho brands, while also providing private-label products for retail and foodservice customers.

The company’s history dates to the 1950s, when it began producing frozen potato products in the Pacific Northwest.