Insider Buying: Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) Major Shareholder Buys 17,482 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Major shareholder Divisadero Street Capital Management purchased 17,482 Lifeway Foods shares at an average price of $21.09, increasing its stake by 0.74% to 2.37 million shares worth approximately $49.9 million.
• The shareholder has made several additional purchases recently, including 50,000 shares on October 6 and 36,202 shares on October 5, signaling continued accumulation of LWAY stock.
• LWAY traded at $20.46, while analyst sentiment remained broadly positive with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $34; however, the company’s latest quarterly EPS of $0.01 missed estimates of $0.26.

Lifeway Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:LWAY - Get Free Report) major shareholder Divisadero Street Capital Mana bought 17,482 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $21.09 per share, for a total transaction of $368,695.38. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 2,365,590 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $49,890,293.10. This trade represents a 0.74% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company's stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Divisadero Street Capital Mana also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, October 6th, Divisadero Street Capital Mana acquired 50,000 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The stock was bought at an average cost of $20.80 per share, with a total value of $1,040,000.00.
• On Monday, October 5th, Divisadero Street Capital Mana bought 36,202 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The shares were bought at an average cost of $21.01 per share, for a total transaction of $760,604.02.
• On Monday, August 17th, Divisadero Street Capital Mana purchased 35,952 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The stock was bought at an average cost of $24.78 per share, with a total value of $890,890.56.
• On Friday, August 14th, Divisadero Street Capital Mana acquired 15,000 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $24.69 per share, with a total value of $370,350.00.
• On Thursday, August 13th, Divisadero Street Capital Mana acquired 195,616 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The shares were purchased at an average price of $24.87 per share, for a total transaction of $4,864,969.92.

Lifeway Foods Price Performance

LWAY stock traded down $0.54 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $20.46. The stock had a trading volume of 173,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 156,414. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Lifeway Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.31 and a 52 week high of $32.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $309.15 million, a P/E ratio of 29.23 and a beta of 0.47. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.73.

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

Institutional Trading of Lifeway Foods

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Lifeway Foods during the 2nd quarter worth $9,614,000. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of Lifeway Foods during the second quarter worth about $17,459,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Lifeway Foods in the second quarter worth approximately $1,711,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lifeway Foods by 167.2% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 124,294 shares of the company's stock worth $3,709,000 after acquiring an additional 77,774 shares during the period. Finally, De Lisle Partners LLP bought a new stake in Lifeway Foods in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,814,000. 36.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on LWAY. Freedom Capital raised Lifeway Foods from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Lifeway Foods in a report on Monday, June 15th. BTIG Research assumed coverage on Lifeway Foods in a report on Thursday, August 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Lifeway Foods from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Lifeway Foods from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Lifeway Foods presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $34.00.

About Lifeway Foods

Lifeway Foods, Inc is a food and beverage company that develops, manufactures, markets and distributes cultured and probiotic products. The company is best known for Lifeway Kefir, a fermented, cultured milk beverage available in a range of flavors and formulations, including low-fat, nonfat and lactose-free options.

Its product portfolio also includes ProBugs kefir for children, non-dairy kefir, drinkable yogurt, European-style farmer cheese, sour cream and other cultured dairy products.

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