Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) Major Shareholder Divisadero Street Capital Mana Buys 50,000 Shares of Company Stock

Key Points

• Major shareholder Divisadero Street Capital Mana bought 50,000 Lifeway Foods shares at an average price of $20.80, investing $1.04 million and increasing its stake by 2.08% to 2.45 million shares.
• LWAY shares fell 2.6% to $20.46, while the company’s latest quarterly earnings missed EPS expectations despite revenue exceeding analyst estimates.
• Analyst opinions remain mixed, but the overall consensus rating is “Buy” with an average price target of $34, well above the current share price.

Lifeway Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:LWAY - Get Free Report) major shareholder Divisadero Street Capital Mana bought 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $20.80 per share, with a total value of $1,040,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 2,451,792 shares of the company's stock, valued at $50,997,273.60. This trade represents a 2.08% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Major shareholders that own at least 10% of a company's stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

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

• On Monday, October 5th, Divisadero Street Capital Mana purchased 36,202 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The shares were acquired at an average price of $21.01 per share, for a total transaction of $760,604.02.
• On Friday, October 2nd, Divisadero Street Capital Mana acquired 17,482 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $21.09 per share, with a total value of $368,695.38.
• On Monday, August 17th, Divisadero Street Capital Mana acquired 35,952 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The stock was acquired 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 acquired at an average price of $24.69 per share, with a total value of $370,350.00.
• On Thursday, August 13th, Divisadero Street Capital Mana bought 195,616 shares of Lifeway Foods stock. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $24.87 per share, for a total transaction of $4,864,969.92.

Lifeway Foods Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of LWAY traded down $0.54 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $20.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 173,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 156,414. The firm has a market cap of $309.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.23 and a beta of 0.47. Lifeway Foods, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.31 and a 1-year high of $32.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a 50 day moving average of $25.52 and a two-hundred day 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 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.26 by ($0.25). The company 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%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lifeway Foods

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LWAY. HBK Investments L P bought a new stake in Lifeway Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,476,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its position in shares of Lifeway Foods by 167.2% in the 2nd 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. Empirical Finance LLC acquired a new stake in Lifeway Foods during the second quarter worth $591,000. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in Lifeway Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at $17,459,000. Finally, Pillsbury Lake Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Lifeway Foods during the 2nd quarter worth about $8,704,597. Institutional investors own 36.39% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Lifeway Foods from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Freedom Capital upgraded Lifeway Foods from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. Wall Street Zen cut Lifeway Foods from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of Lifeway Foods in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Finally, BTIG Research initiated coverage on shares of Lifeway Foods in a report on Thursday, August 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. One 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 MarketBeat, the company 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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