Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Increases Stock Holdings in Lamb Weston $LW

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Lamb Weston by 49.2% to almost $240 million during the first quarter, now holding about 3.19% of the company.
• Multiple analysts have upgraded Lamb Weston's stock rating, with Wells Fargo raising its price target from $65.00 to $66.00 and Barclays from $61.00 to $68.00, indicating positive sentiment in the market.
• Lamb Weston reported earnings of $0.87 per share, exceeding estimates, with revenues at $1.68 billion for the recent quarter, marking a 4.0% year-over-year increase.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW - Free Report) by 49.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,500,503 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 1,483,559 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 3.19% of Lamb Weston worth $239,877,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LW. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 2.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,072,932 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $909,987,000 after buying an additional 426,045 shares in the last quarter. JANA Partners Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. JANA Partners Management LP now owns 7,131,339 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $476,587,000 after buying an additional 1,302,585 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 25.7% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,055,902 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $216,180,000 after buying an additional 829,207 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,425,510 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $95,267,000 after buying an additional 120,279 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,425,229 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $95,251,000 after buying an additional 265,697 shares in the last quarter. 89.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LW has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $61.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lamb Weston from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Lamb Weston in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $57.00 price target on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lamb Weston currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $65.30.

Lamb Weston Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of Lamb Weston stock traded down $0.39 on Thursday, hitting $56.27. The stock had a trading volume of 680,062 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,309,462. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. Lamb Weston has a one year low of $47.87 and a one year high of $83.98. The stock has a market cap of $7.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.39, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.49. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $53.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.63.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The specialty retailer reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.23. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 5.54% and a return on equity of 27.99%. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.78 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Lamb Weston has set its FY 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 EPS for the current year.

Lamb Weston Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 1st will be paid a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 1st. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. Lamb Weston's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.