National Bank of Canada FI Grows Position in Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW)

National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) by 14.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 70,287 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,952 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Lamb Weston were worth $4,697,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Lamb Weston by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,646,887 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,112,511,000 after buying an additional 58,066 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,221,665 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $402,791,000 after acquiring an additional 549,812 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 735,901 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,388,056 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $218,598,000 after acquiring an additional 24,097 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Lamb Weston during the fourth quarter valued at about $96,736,000. Institutional investors own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on LW. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. 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 report on Monday, February 24th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of Lamb Weston in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert A. Niblock acquired 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $60.94 per share, for a total transaction of $182,820.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 26,406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,609,181.64. The trade was a 12.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

LW opened at $59.11 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $55.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.43 billion, a PE ratio of 23.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $47.90 and a 12-month high of $89.51.

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

Lamb Weston Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be issued a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 2nd. Lamb Weston’s payout ratio is presently 58.50%.

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.