Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) Stock Position Raised by Invesco Ltd.

Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW - Free Report) by 25.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,055,902 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after buying an additional 829,207 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned about 2.87% of Lamb Weston worth $216,180,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LW. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 23.0% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 723,215 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $38,547,000 after purchasing an additional 135,188 shares during the last quarter. Atlas FRM LLC bought a new position in Lamb Weston in the 4th quarter worth approximately $20,383,000. Soviero Asset Management LP bought a new position in Lamb Weston in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,342,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH bought a new position in Lamb Weston in the 4th quarter worth approximately $823,000. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in Lamb Weston in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,059,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.56% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Lamb Weston from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Lamb Weston from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Lamb Weston from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $56.00 price objective on Lamb Weston and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Lamb Weston from $61.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lamb Weston presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $67.40.

Lamb Weston Price Performance

Shares of LW stock traded down $0.66 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $54.17. 1,093,980 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,604,738. Lamb Weston has a twelve month low of $47.87 and a twelve month high of $83.98. The firm has a market cap of $7.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.49. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $53.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 1.38.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The specialty retailer reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 27.99% and a net margin of 5.54%. The company's revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 1st. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Lamb Weston's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.96%.

Lamb Weston Profile

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc produces, distributes, and markets frozen potato products worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Global, Foodservice, Retail, and Other. It offers frozen potatoes, commercial ingredients, and appetizers under the Lamb Weston brand, as well as under various customer labels.