Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) Downgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group to “Neutral”

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) was downgraded by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Thursday, Briefing.com reports. They currently have a $81.00 price objective on the specialty retailer’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $84.00. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 3.86% from the stock’s previous close.

Separately, Bank of America upgraded Lamb Weston from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $81.20.

LW stock opened at $77.99 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $80.38 and a 200 day moving average of $75.25. The firm has a market cap of $11.41 billion, a PE ratio of 38.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.78. Lamb Weston has a twelve month low of $51.72 and a twelve month high of $86.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.65.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 6th. The specialty retailer reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.06). Lamb Weston had a net margin of 8.33% and a return on equity of 95.26%. The company had revenue of $895.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $819.94 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.77 earnings per share. Lamb Weston’s revenue was down 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Lamb Weston will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In other Lamb Weston news, CEO Thomas P. Werner sold 69,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.65, for a total transaction of $5,396,675.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Eryk J. Spytek sold 6,183 shares of Lamb Weston stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $463,725.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LW. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 33.1% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 352,570 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $23,364,000 after purchasing an additional 87,656 shares during the period. Kiwi Wealth Investments Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of Lamb Weston during the third quarter valued at approximately $684,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 66.0% in the third quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 7,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $504,000 after buying an additional 3,021 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,042,000. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Lamb Weston during the 3rd quarter valued at $869,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

About Lamb Weston

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc produces, distributes, and markets value-added frozen potato products worldwide. It operates through four segments: Global, Foodservice, Retail, and Other. The company offers frozen potatoes, sweet potatoes, commercial ingredients, and appetizers under the Lamb Weston brand, as well as various customer labels.

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