Harbour Investments Inc. Increases Holdings in Lamb Weston $LW

Key Points

• Harbour Investments dramatically increased its Lamb Weston stake in Q4, boosting holdings by 11,283% to 60,899 shares worth about $2.55 million.
• Insiders have also been buying, including director Peter J. Bensen and Jana Partners Management, while institutional ownership remains high at 89.56%.
• Lamb Weston beat quarterly estimates with EPS of $0.72 and revenue of $1.56 billion, and it also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.38 per share, yielding about 3.6% annualized.

Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW - Free Report) by 11,283.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 60,899 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after acquiring an additional 60,364 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc.'s holdings in Lamb Weston were worth $2,551,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 2.0% in the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 9,685 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $563,000 after buying an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 6.5% in the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,718 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $216,000 after buying an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 3,101 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $130,000 after buying an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 115.5% in the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 446 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 17.7% in the third quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,700 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $95,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. 89.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Lamb Weston from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Barclays decreased their target price on Lamb Weston from $55.00 to $46.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded Lamb Weston from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Lamb Weston from $54.00 to $46.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Lamb Weston from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lamb Weston has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $47.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lamb Weston news, Director Peter J. Bensen bought 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $39.45 per share, with a total value of $197,250.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 17,204 shares in the company, valued at $678,697.80. This represents a 40.97% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jana Partners Management, Lp bought 136,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $40.89 per share, for a total transaction of $5,561,040.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 5,148,980 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $210,541,792.20. The trade was a 2.71% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 391,000 shares of company stock worth $16,270,790. Insiders own 0.29% of the company's stock.

Lamb Weston Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE LW opened at $42.70 on Thursday. The business's 50 day moving average is $42.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 0.69. Lamb Weston has a 1-year low of $37.62 and a 1-year high of $67.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.95, a PEG ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 0.47.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 1st. The specialty retailer reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.49 billion. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 4.61%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Lamb Weston will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 8th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Lamb Weston's dividend payout ratio is currently 71.03%.

Lamb Weston Company Profile

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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