Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) Shares Purchased by Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) by 33.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,678 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,960 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Lamb Weston were worth $1,655,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LW. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Lamb Weston by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,695,138 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,778,533,000 after purchasing an additional 60,601 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 11.7% in the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,233,420 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $131,396,000 after acquiring an additional 129,120 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP lifted its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 117.2% in the first quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,230,538 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $131,035,000 after acquiring an additional 663,985 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 3.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,121,626 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $94,300,000 after acquiring an additional 38,970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 32.1% in the second quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 840,166 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $70,641,000 after acquiring an additional 204,384 shares in the last quarter. 89.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Lamb Weston from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $115.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Lamb Weston from $132.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays reduced their target price on Lamb Weston from $96.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Lamb Weston from $98.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Lamb Weston from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.70.

Insider Transactions at Lamb Weston

In other Lamb Weston news, Director William G. Jurgensen acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $55.43 per share, with a total value of $554,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 173,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,610,287.11. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.66% of the company’s stock.

Lamb Weston Trading Down 0.1 %

LW opened at $64.84 on Wednesday. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $52.99 and a 12 month high of $111.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.66, a PEG ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $62.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.95.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The specialty retailer reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.24 by ($0.46). Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 44.06% and a net margin of 11.22%. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. will post 4.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 2nd were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 2nd. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.