Bank of Montreal Can Has $9.77 Million Stock Position in Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW)

Bank of Montreal Can lowered its position in shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) by 52.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 146,238 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 161,806 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Lamb Weston were worth $9,773,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in LW. Norges Bank bought a new position in Lamb Weston in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $96,736,000. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,477,165 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $232,330,000 after purchasing an additional 735,901 shares during the period. Liberty One Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 697.4% in the 4th quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 350,268 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $23,408,000 after purchasing an additional 306,343 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston during the fourth quarter worth $19,802,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Lamb Weston by 97.9% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 588,027 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $39,298,000 after purchasing an additional 290,901 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

Shares of Lamb Weston stock opened at $54.62 on Monday. 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 firm has a market cap of $7.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.48. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $54.33 and its 200-day moving average is $65.03. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $47.90 and a one year high of $89.51.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 27.82% and a net margin of 5.80%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The firm 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 is Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. Lamb Weston’s payout ratio is currently 58.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on LW shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of Lamb Weston in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Citigroup lowered shares of Lamb Weston from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lamb Weston to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $63.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.27.

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.