Lamb Weston Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:LW)

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders bought 4,876 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 56% compared to the typical daily volume of 3,135 call options.

Institutional Trading of Lamb Weston

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Clear Street Markets LLC boosted its position in Lamb Weston by 92.5% during the first quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 283 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 113.4% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 303 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 8,040.0% during the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 407 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $432,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on LW. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Lamb Weston from $132.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Lamb Weston from $128.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Bank of America decreased their target price on Lamb Weston from $138.00 to $113.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. BNP Paribas began coverage on Lamb Weston in a report on Monday, March 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $128.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Lamb Weston from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lamb Weston currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $117.40.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

Shares of LW stock opened at $77.81 on Tuesday. Lamb Weston has a 1-year low of $77.41 and a 1-year high of $117.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The company has a market capitalization of $11.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $101.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $99.63.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 4th. The specialty retailer reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by ($0.20). Lamb Weston had a net margin of 16.71% and a return on equity of 50.74%. The business had revenue of $1.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.43 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Lamb Weston will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 2nd. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.85%. Lamb Weston’s payout ratio is 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.