Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) Receives $122.00 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the ten brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $117.40.

LW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Lamb Weston in a report on Monday, March 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $128.00 price target for the company. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $132.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lamb Weston from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 5th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $125.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lamb Weston

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,085,009 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $963,653,000 after purchasing an additional 198,274 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 2.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,827,657 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $669,889,000 after purchasing an additional 154,165 shares during the period. Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston during the fourth quarter worth $383,220,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 2.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,417,548 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $315,986,000 after purchasing an additional 77,937 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 2.3% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,043,919 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $317,658,000 after purchasing an additional 69,429 shares during the period. 89.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lamb Weston Price Performance

NYSE:LW opened at $79.86 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market cap of $11.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $100.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $99.39. Lamb Weston has a 1-year low of $77.41 and a 1-year high of $117.38.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 4th. The specialty retailer reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.40 by ($0.20). The firm had revenue of $1.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 16.71% and a return on equity of 50.74%. Lamb Weston’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.43 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Lamb Weston will post 5.52 EPS for the current year.

Lamb Weston Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 2nd. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. 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.