Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) Receives Average Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the twelve research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $69.91.

Several equities analysts have commented on LW shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Lamb Weston in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $56.00 price objective on shares of Lamb Weston and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lamb Weston from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Lamb Weston during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 3,466.7% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 535 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 520 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.56% of the company's stock.

Lamb Weston Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LW opened at $55.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $53.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.12. Lamb Weston has a fifty-two week low of $47.90 and a fifty-two week high of $88.25. The firm has a market cap of $7.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.46.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The specialty retailer reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.23. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 5.80% and a return on equity of 27.82%. The firm had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. Lamb Weston's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were paid a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. Lamb Weston's dividend payout ratio is presently 58.04%.

Lamb Weston Company 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.

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