Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

Equities researchers at StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY – Get Rating) in a note issued to investors on Wednesday. The firm set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock.

Lifeway Foods Stock Down 4.2 %

Shares of LWAY opened at $5.75 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $84.24 million, a PE ratio of 31.94 and a beta of 1.48. The business has a fifty day moving average of $6.07 and a 200 day moving average of $6.09. Lifeway Foods has a 52-week low of $4.55 and a 52-week high of $8.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 27th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $35.84 million during the quarter. Lifeway Foods had a return on equity of 5.41% and a net margin of 1.82%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lifeway Foods will post 0.34 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Edward Smolyansky sold 15,000 shares of Lifeway Foods stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.01, for a total transaction of $90,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,394,439 shares in the company, valued at $8,380,578.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Ludmila Smolyansky sold 125,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.00, for a total transaction of $750,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,924,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,548,722. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Edward Smolyansky sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.01, for a total transaction of $90,150.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,394,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,380,578.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 178,000 shares of company stock worth $1,066,470 over the last three months. 50.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lifeway Foods

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LWAY. Susquehanna International Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of Lifeway Foods in the first quarter valued at about $483,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lifeway Foods by 22.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 178,117 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,286,000 after acquiring an additional 33,079 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Lifeway Foods by 12,896.2% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 16,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 16,765 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lifeway Foods in the fourth quarter valued at about $82,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lifeway Foods by 2.2% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 383,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,319,000 after acquiring an additional 8,200 shares in the last quarter. 29.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Lifeway Foods

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Lifeway Foods, Inc engages in the manufacture of probiotic and nutritious foods. Its products include kefir, organic kefir, plantiful, probugs, frozen kefir, cups and skyr, cheese, and supplements. The company distributes its products primarily through its direct sales force, brokers, and distributors.