HBK Investments L P Acquires New Position in Lifeway Foods, Inc. $LWAY

HBK Investments L P bought a new position in shares of Lifeway Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:LWAY) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,476,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LWAY. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Lifeway Foods during the second quarter worth $17,459,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lifeway Foods in the second quarter worth $9,614,000. Pillsbury Lake Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lifeway Foods in the second quarter valued at $8,704,597. AWM Investment Company Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lifeway Foods in the second quarter valued at $6,654,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its position in shares of Lifeway Foods by 167.2% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 124,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,709,000 after purchasing an additional 77,774 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 36.39% of the company’s stock.

Lifeway Foods Price Performance

NASDAQ:LWAY traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $24.42. 100,901 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 116,863. The firm has a market cap of $368.99 million, a P/E ratio of 34.89 and a beta of 0.44. Lifeway Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.31 and a 52 week high of $34.20. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by ($0.25). Lifeway Foods had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 4.48%.The business had revenue of $66.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.40 million.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on LWAY shares. Weiss Ratings lowered Lifeway Foods from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Freedom Capital upgraded Lifeway Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered Lifeway Foods from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 15th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Lifeway Foods in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, BTIG Research began coverage on shares of Lifeway Foods in a report on Thursday, August 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $32.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lifeway Foods presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $34.00.

Insider Transactions at Lifeway Foods

In other Lifeway Foods news, major shareholder Divisadero Street Capital Mana acquired 195,616 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $24.87 per share, with a total value of $4,864,969.92. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 2,297,156 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $57,130,269.72. This trade represents a 9.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Edward Smolyansky sold 111,548 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.26, for a total transaction of $3,263,894.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 902,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,411,304.92. This trade represents a 11.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 248,568 shares of company stock valued at $6,176,730 and sold 592,698 shares valued at $17,070,367. 18.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Lifeway Foods Company Profile

Lifeway Foods, Inc is a food and beverage company that develops and markets cultured and fermented dairy products. The company is best known for Lifeway Kefir, a cultured milk smoothie containing live and active probiotic cultures. Its portfolio also includes low-fat and nonfat kefir, organic and plant-based kefir products, ProBugs probiotic beverages for children, and other cultured dairy products such as farmer cheese, sour cream and skyr-style offerings.

Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Morton Grove, Illinois, Lifeway helped introduce kefir to a broader U.S.