Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW)

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders purchased 67,997 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,307% compared to the average daily volume of 4,834 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. American National Bank & Trust bought a new position in Lamb Weston during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lamb Weston during the first quarter valued at $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lamb Weston during the first quarter worth about $28,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 64.2% in the 2nd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 537 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased 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 worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 520 shares during the period. 89.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped 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. Stifel Nicolaus set a $56.00 target price on shares of Lamb Weston and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Lamb Weston from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Lamb Weston from $69.00 to $61.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $67.73.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

NYSE:LW traded up $1.48 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $58.67. 3,770,932 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,870,987. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. Lamb Weston has a 52 week low of $47.87 and a 52 week high of $83.98.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The specialty retailer reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 27.99% and a net margin of 5.54%. The business's revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st will be given a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 1st. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. Lamb Weston's payout ratio is currently 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.