Pillsbury Lake Capital LLC Purchases New Shares in Lifeway Foods, Inc. $LWAY

Key Points

• Pillsbury Lake Capital acquired 291,709 Lifeway Foods shares, representing about 1.93% of the company; institutional investors collectively own 36.39% of LWAY.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive overall, with a consensus “Buy” rating and a $34 target price, despite some downgrades. BTIG Research initiated coverage with a “Buy” rating and a $32 target.
• LWAY recently traded at $26.47 and reported quarterly revenue of $66.89 million, above expectations, but earnings per share of $0.01 missed estimates. Insiders have sold substantially more stock than they bought over the past 90 days.

Pillsbury Lake Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Lifeway Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:LWAY - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 291,709 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,704,597,000. Lifeway Foods makes up approximately 2.4% of Pillsbury Lake Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Pillsbury Lake Capital LLC owned about 1.93% of Lifeway Foods at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LWAY. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lifeway Foods during the 2nd quarter valued at about $9,614,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Lifeway Foods by 8.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 235,710 shares of the company's stock worth $4,558,000 after purchasing an additional 19,035 shares in the last quarter. AWM Investment Company Inc. acquired a new stake in Lifeway Foods in the second quarter valued at approximately $6,654,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its holdings in Lifeway Foods by 33.5% in the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 214,650 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,151,000 after purchasing an additional 53,900 shares during the period. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp ET AL increased its position in shares of Lifeway Foods by 73.0% in the fourth quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 163,361 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,958,000 after buying an additional 68,956 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.39% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LWAY has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BTIG Research started coverage on Lifeway Foods in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Lifeway Foods in a report on Monday, June 15th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Lifeway Foods from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Lifeway Foods from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Lifeway Foods from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $34.00.

Lifeway Foods Price Performance

Shares of Lifeway Foods stock opened at $26.47 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.28. Lifeway Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.31 and a 12 month high of $34.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $399.96 million, a P/E ratio of 37.81 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.26 by ($0.25). Lifeway Foods had a net margin of 4.48% and a return on equity of 12.66%. The firm had revenue of $66.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $61.40 million.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lifeway Foods

In other news, major shareholder Edward Smolyansky sold 111,548 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.26, for a total value of $3,263,894.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 902,642 shares in the company, valued at $26,411,304.92. This represents a 11.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Ludmila Smolyansky sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.11, for a total transaction of $3,011,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 507,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,272,002.77. This represents a 16.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 248,568 shares of company stock worth $6,176,730 and have sold 592,698 shares worth $17,070,367. 18.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Lifeway Foods

Lifeway Foods, Inc NASDAQ: LWAY is a Chicago-based food company specializing in probiotic-rich cultured dairy products. Established in 1986 by Michael Smolyansky, the company pioneered the introduction of kefir to the U.S. market. Under the leadership of CEO Julie Smolyansky, who succeeded her father in 2002, Lifeway has grown from a single product operation into a diversified portfolio of fermented foods and beverages aimed at promoting digestive health and wellness.

The company's flagship product is kefir, a cultured milk beverage naturally rich in probiotics, vitamins and minerals.

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