Empowered Funds LLC Makes New Investment in La-Z-Boy Incorporated $LZB

Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of La-Z-Boy Incorporated (NYSE:LZB) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 161,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,475,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of La-Z-Boy in the 2nd quarter valued at $265,535,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in La-Z-Boy by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,814,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $179,422,000 after acquiring an additional 38,513 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in La-Z-Boy by 1.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,694,255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,594,000 after acquiring an additional 38,870 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of La-Z-Boy by 24.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,851,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,019,000 after acquiring an additional 358,945 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of La-Z-Boy by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,476,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,043,000 after acquiring an additional 11,983 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on LZB. Weiss Ratings lowered La-Z-Boy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on La-Z-Boy from $46.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Wall Street Zen cut La-Z-Boy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of La-Z-Boy from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.50.

Insider Transactions at La-Z-Boy

In other news, CEO Melinda D. Whittington sold 7,364 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $294,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 415,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,602,440. This trade represents a 1.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Michael Adam Leggett sold 9,000 shares of La-Z-Boy stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.66, for a total transaction of $374,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 47,551 shares in the company, valued at $1,980,974.66. This trade represents a 15.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 66,299 shares of company stock worth $2,677,491. Corporate insiders own 3.12% of the company’s stock.

La-Z-Boy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LZB opened at $32.57 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $39.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.64. The firm has a market cap of $1.30 billion, a PE ratio of 16.53, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.27. La-Z-Boy Incorporated has a 1-year low of $29.03 and a 1-year high of $44.90.

La-Z-Boy (NYSE:LZB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 18th. The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $475.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $501.44 million. La-Z-Boy had a net margin of 3.86% and a return on equity of 11.79%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that La-Z-Boy Incorporated will post 2.7 EPS for the current year.

La-Z-Boy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be paid a $0.242 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. La-Z-Boy’s payout ratio is presently 49.24%.

La-Z-Boy Profile

La-Z-Boy Incorporated (NYSE: LZB) is a leading U.S. manufacturer and marketer of residential furniture, best known for its upholstered recliners, sofas, stationary chairs and sleeper sofas. The company offers a broad range of products in both fabric and leather, complemented by occasional tables, desks, lamps and other home furnishings through its branded retail network.

Founded in 1927 by cousins Edward Knabusch and Edwin Shoemaker in Monroe, Michigan, La-Z-Boy pioneered the modern reclining chair.