Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) Stock Now Rated "Hold" by Sell-Side Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Hold” consensus on Lamb Weston, with 11 holds and three buys among 14 analysts. The average 12-month price target is $53.36, although several firms recently raised their targets to between $48 and $57.
• Lamb Weston’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with EPS of $0.87 versus the $0.63 consensus and revenue of $1.77 billion, up 5.6% year over year. The company provided fiscal 2027 EPS guidance of $2.95–$3.25.
• Institutional investors own 89.56% of the stock, while shares recently opened at $44.30—below their 50-day average of $50.91. Lamb Weston also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.38, representing a 3.4% annualized yield.

Shares of Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $53.36.

LW has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays raised their price target on Lamb Weston from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Lamb Weston from $42.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Lamb Weston from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Lamb Weston from $54.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Lamb Weston from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st.

Institutional Trading of Lamb Weston

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LW. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Lamb Weston during the second quarter worth about $730,276,000. JANA Partners Management LP boosted its holdings in Lamb Weston by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. JANA Partners Management LP now owns 5,394,635 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $232,940,000 after purchasing an additional 386,000 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Lamb Weston by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,869,644 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $210,271,000 after purchasing an additional 294,120 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,528,402 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $147,536,000 after buying an additional 21,256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Lamb Weston during the 4th quarter worth approximately $125,662,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.56% of the company's stock.

Lamb Weston Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:LW opened at $44.30 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.47. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $50.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Lamb Weston has a 1-year low of $37.62 and a 1-year high of $67.07.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 24th. The specialty retailer reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.24. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 4.39% and a return on equity of 23.33%. The company had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. Lamb Weston's quarterly revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Lamb Weston has set its FY 2027 guidance at 2.950-3.250 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Lamb Weston will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Lamb Weston Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th were paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. Lamb Weston's payout ratio is currently 73.08%.

About Lamb Weston

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc NYSE: LW is a food company that produces and distributes frozen potato products. Its portfolio includes frozen french fries, potato wedges, hash browns, tater tots, mashed potatoes, sweet potato products and other specialty potato items.

The company serves restaurants, foodservice distributors, retailers and food manufacturers. Its products are sold under the Lamb Weston, Grown in Idaho and Alexia brands, as well as through private-label and customer-specific offerings.

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