Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) Stock: Insider Edward Smolyansky Sells 30,000 Shares

Lifeway Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:LWAY) major shareholder Edward Smolyansky sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.64, for a total value of $679,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 864,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,578,913.52. This represents a 3.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Large shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Edward Smolyansky also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, August 12th, Edward Smolyansky sold 35,000 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.74, for a total value of $1,005,900.00.
• On Friday, August 14th, Edward Smolyansky sold 75,000 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.45, for a total value of $1,908,750.00.

Lifeway Foods Price Performance

LWAY stock traded up $0.16 during trading on Thursday, hitting $22.21. The company had a trading volume of 104,080 shares, compared to its average volume of 122,100. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $24.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market cap of $335.59 million, a P/E ratio of 31.73 and a beta of 0.47. Lifeway Foods, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.31 and a fifty-two week high of $32.71.

Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 4.48% and a return on equity of 12.66%. The company had revenue of $66.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.40 million.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lifeway Foods

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. HBK Investments L P acquired a new stake in shares of Lifeway Foods in the second quarter valued at $4,476,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lifeway Foods by 167.2% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lifeway Foods during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $591,000. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Lifeway Foods during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $17,459,000. Finally, Pillsbury Lake Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lifeway Foods during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $8,704,597. 36.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on LWAY shares. 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 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lifeway Foods from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 15th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Lifeway Foods from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Lifeway Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lifeway Foods currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.00.

Lifeway Foods Company Profile

Lifeway Foods, Inc is a food and beverage company that develops, manufactures, markets and distributes cultured and probiotic products. The company is best known for Lifeway Kefir, a fermented, cultured milk beverage available in a range of flavors and formulations, including low-fat, nonfat and lactose-free options.

Its product portfolio also includes ProBugs kefir for children, non-dairy kefir, drinkable yogurt, European-style farmer cheese, sour cream and other cultured dairy products.