Bayforest Capital Ltd Invests $479,000 in Lamb Weston $LW

Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 9,234 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $479,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Lamb Weston by 49.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,500,503 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $239,877,000 after acquiring an additional 1,483,559 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 324.4% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,126,982 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $60,068,000 after purchasing an additional 861,417 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 25.7% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,055,902 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $216,180,000 after purchasing an additional 829,207 shares in the last quarter. Gates Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Lamb Weston by 49.8% in the first quarter. Gates Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,016,142 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $107,460,000 after purchasing an additional 670,611 shares during the period. Finally, Clarkston Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Lamb Weston by 21.1% in the first quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,721,559 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $198,359,000 after purchasing an additional 648,855 shares during the period. 89.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lamb Weston Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Lamb Weston stock opened at $64.20 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.73. Lamb Weston has a 52-week low of $47.87 and a 52-week high of $83.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.95 billion, a PE ratio of 30.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.52.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 24th. The specialty retailer reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 4.56% and a return on equity of 28.08%. On average, analysts anticipate that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Lamb Weston from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Lamb Weston in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $66.00 price objective on shares of Lamb Weston in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Lamb Weston and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.70.

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.