Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) Stock Jumps 3.6% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) were up 3.6% during mid-day trading on Monday after Zacks Research upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating. The stock traded as high as $49.93 and last traded at $49.6130. 645,273 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 2,258,738 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.87.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on LW. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $53.00 price objective on shares of Lamb Weston in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $40.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $46.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lamb Weston presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.82.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lamb Weston

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in Lamb Weston by 26.4% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,933 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in Lamb Weston by 8.9% in the second quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 6,158 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 505 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Lamb Weston by 22.8% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,777 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $120,000 after buying an additional 516 shares in the last quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC grew its position in Lamb Weston by 0.7% during the second quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 78,694 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,398,000 after acquiring an additional 553 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position in Lamb Weston by 6.4% during the first quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $400,000 after acquiring an additional 568 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

Lamb Weston Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.56, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.49.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 6th. The specialty retailer reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 3.85% and a return on equity of 23.27%. The business’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. Lamb Weston has set its FY 2027 guidance at 3.050-3.350 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lamb Weston will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 4th. Investors of record on Friday, November 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 6th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 83.06%.

Lamb Weston Company Profile

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc (NYSE: LW) is a global producer and marketer of frozen potato products. The company supplies French fries, potato wedges, hash browns, potato rounds, mashed potatoes and other specialty potato products to restaurants, foodservice distributors, retailers and food manufacturers.

Its product portfolio includes conventional and specialty frozen potato offerings, as well as sweet potato products and appetizer items. Lamb Weston sells products under its Lamb Weston and Grown in Idaho brands, while also providing private-label products for retail and foodservice customers.

The company’s history dates to the 1950s, when it began producing frozen potato products in the Pacific Northwest.