Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) Short Interest Up 28.5% in October

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,430,000 shares, a growth of 28.5% from the September 30th total of 5,780,000 shares. Currently, 5.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 3,420,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lamb Weston

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,695,138 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,778,533,000 after acquiring an additional 60,601 shares during the last quarter. TPG GP A LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 74.4% in the second quarter. TPG GP A LLC now owns 2,924,230 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $245,869,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247,206 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its position in Lamb Weston by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 2,045,582 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $171,993,000 after purchasing an additional 114,049 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in Lamb Weston by 78.5% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,888,556 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $158,790,000 after buying an additional 830,511 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Lamb Weston by 11.7% in the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,233,420 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $131,396,000 after buying an additional 129,120 shares during the last quarter. 89.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LW has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $68.00 target price (up from $63.00) on shares of Lamb Weston in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Consumer Edge lowered Lamb Weston from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.22.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LW opened at $77.41 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.75. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $67.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.47. Lamb Weston has a fifty-two week low of $52.99 and a fifty-two week high of $111.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The specialty retailer reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 34.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Lamb Weston will post 4.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.23%.

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.