La-Z-Boy (NYSE:LZB) Hits New 1-Year Low - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• La-Z-Boy shares hit a new 52-week low of $28.92 and were trading near $29.35, below both their 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
• Analyst sentiment has weakened, with multiple downgrades and a consensus “Hold” rating; the average price target is $39.50.
• The company missed quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, while sales fell 3.4% year over year. La-Z-Boy continues to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.242 per share, representing an annualized yield of about 3.3%.

La-Z-Boy Incorporated (NYSE:LZB - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week low on Monday. The company traded as low as $28.92 and last traded at $29.3490, with a volume of 108359 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $29.88.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LZB has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded La-Z-Boy from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of La-Z-Boy from $46.00 to $40.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of La-Z-Boy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of La-Z-Boy from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.50.

La-Z-Boy Price Performance

The stock's 50-day moving average price is $35.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.88. The company has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.89, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.23.

La-Z-Boy (NYSE:LZB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 18th. The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.06). La-Z-Boy had a return on equity of 11.79% and a net margin of 3.86%.The business had revenue of $475.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $501.44 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.47 earnings per share. La-Z-Boy's revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that La-Z-Boy Incorporated will post 2.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

La-Z-Boy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.2420 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. La-Z-Boy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.24%.

Insider Activity

In other La-Z-Boy news, insider Robert Sundy, II sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.85, for a total transaction of $154,250.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 59,297 shares in the company, valued at $1,829,312.45. This trade represents a 7.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Janet Kerr sold 3,653 shares of La-Z-Boy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.75, for a total value of $115,982.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,125 shares of the company's stock, valued at $130,968.75. This represents a 46.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,153 shares of company stock worth $370,808. Corporate insiders own 3.12% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of La-Z-Boy

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of LZB. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in shares of La-Z-Boy in the second quarter worth $3,896,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in La-Z-Boy during the second quarter worth about $119,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new stake in La-Z-Boy during the second quarter worth about $2,052,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in La-Z-Boy by 47.4% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,803 shares of the company's stock worth $112,000 after buying an additional 902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in La-Z-Boy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $534,000. 99.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About La-Z-Boy

La-Z-Boy Incorporated is a residential furniture manufacturer and retailer best known for its upholstered recliners. The company offers a broad range of furniture for living rooms, family rooms, bedrooms and other areas of the home, including recliners, sofas, sectionals, chairs, ottomans, tables, beds and complementary home furnishings.

Founded in 1927 in Monroe, Michigan, La-Z-Boy built its reputation around its reclining chair and has expanded into a full-service home furnishings company.

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