Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.37 (NYSE:LW)

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 20th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd will be paid a dividend of 0.37 per share by the specialty retailer on Friday, May 30th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.78%.

Lamb Weston has raised its dividend payment by an average of 15.3% per year over the last three years. Lamb Weston has a payout ratio of 37.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Lamb Weston to earn $3.64 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 40.7%.

Lamb Weston Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Lamb Weston stock opened at $53.16 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. Lamb Weston has a 12 month low of $47.90 and a 12 month high of $107.50. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.14. The stock has a market cap of $7.58 billion, a PE ratio of 21.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.76.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.01 by ($0.35). The business had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 27.82% and a net margin of 5.80%. The business’s revenue was down 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.45 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Lamb Weston

In other Lamb Weston news, Director Robert A. Niblock purchased 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $60.94 per share, with a total value of $182,820.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,406 shares in the company, valued at $1,609,181.64. This represents a 12.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles A. Blixt purchased 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $63.25 per share, for a total transaction of $75,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 22,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,453,611.50. The trade was a 5.51 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on LW. Citigroup lowered Lamb Weston from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $68.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays reduced their target price on Lamb Weston from $87.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Lamb Weston in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Lamb Weston to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lamb Weston presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.73.

About Lamb Weston

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.