Empowered Funds LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Lamb Weston $LW

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC cut its Lamb Weston stake by 72.1% in the second quarter, selling 202,268 shares and retaining 78,254 shares valued at approximately $3.4 million.
• Institutional ownership remains high at 89.56%, with BlackRock, Norges Bank, Ion Asset Management and Bank of New York Mellon among firms establishing or increasing positions.
• Analysts maintain a broadly neutral outlook, with a consensus “Hold” rating and $53.36 price target. Lamb Weston beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates and declared a $0.38 quarterly dividend, yielding about 2.9%.

Empowered Funds LLC lowered its position in Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW - Free Report) by 72.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 78,254 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 202,268 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC owned about 0.06% of Lamb Weston worth $3,379,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lamb Weston during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $730,276,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $125,662,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 27.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,824,690 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $411,558,000 after buying an additional 2,111,874 shares in the last quarter. Ion Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston in the second quarter valued at approximately $84,379,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Lamb Weston during the second quarter worth $51,521,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.56% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on LW shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Lamb Weston from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Lamb Weston from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. 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 report on Tuesday, July 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $42.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $53.36.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

Shares of LW stock opened at $52.66 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $50.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.91. The stock has a market cap of $7.24 billion, a PE ratio of 25.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.46. Lamb Weston has a 1 year low of $37.62 and a 1 year high of $67.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.42.

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

Lamb Weston Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th will be given a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 7th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Lamb Weston's payout ratio is currently 73.08%.

About Lamb Weston

Lamb Weston, traded on the NYSE under the symbol LW, is a leading global processor and supplier of frozen potato products. The company's portfolio includes a variety of potato-based items such as French fries, potato wedges, hash browns and specialty cuts tailored to the foodservice and retail grocery channels. Lamb Weston serves quick-service restaurants, full-service operators, grocery chains and food distributors, offering customized product formats, packaging solutions and seasoning options to meet evolving customer demands.

Founded in 1950 and headquartered in Eagle, Idaho, Lamb Weston has grown from a regional processor into one of the world's largest producers of frozen potato products.

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