La-Z-Boy (NYSE:LZB) Shares Gap Up - What's Next?

Key Points

• La-Z-Boy shares gapped higher, opening at $30.03 versus a prior close of $28.68, before trading near $29.70. The stock remains below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages of $31.36 and $35.48, respectively.
• Analyst sentiment is moderately positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $39.50, despite KeyCorp cutting its target to $40 and other firms maintaining or lowering ratings.
• The company’s latest quarter fell short of expectations, reporting $0.43 in EPS and $475.69 million in revenue, while revenue declined 3.4% year over year. La-Z-Boy continues to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.242 per share, representing a 3.3% yield.

La-Z-Boy Incorporated (NYSE:LZB - Get Free Report) gapped up prior to trading on Friday. The stock had previously closed at $28.68, but opened at $30.03. La-Z-Boy shares last traded at $29.6950, with a volume of 9,258 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LZB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on La-Z-Boy from $46.00 to $40.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded La-Z-Boy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of La-Z-Boy from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded La-Z-Boy from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $39.50.

La-Z-Boy Trading Down 2.4%

The stock's 50 day moving average is $31.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.24.

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

La-Z-Boy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.2420 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. La-Z-Boy's payout ratio is currently 49.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at La-Z-Boy

In other La-Z-Boy news, Director Janet Kerr sold 3,653 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.75, for a total value of $115,982.75. Following the sale, the director owned 4,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,968.75. The trade was a 46.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Robert Sundy, II sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.85, for a total transaction of $154,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 59,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,829,312.45. The trade was a 7.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of La-Z-Boy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in La-Z-Boy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $265,535,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in La-Z-Boy by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,694,255 shares of the company's stock worth $86,594,000 after purchasing an additional 38,870 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of La-Z-Boy by 2.6% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 755,267 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,085,000 after buying an additional 18,997 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its position in shares of La-Z-Boy by 4.6% during the first quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 591,840 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,022,000 after buying an additional 26,009 shares during the period. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of La-Z-Boy in the second quarter valued at approximately $19,511,000. 99.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About La-Z-Boy

La-Z-Boy Incorporated NYSE: LZB is an American furniture manufacturer and retailer best known for its upholstered reclining chairs and sofas. The company offers a broad range of residential furniture, including stationary and motion upholstery, sectionals, sofas, chairs, recliners, bedroom furniture, dining furniture, occasional tables and home accessories.

Founded in 1927, La-Z-Boy traces its origins to the development of an upholstered reclining chair by cousins Edward M. Knabusch and Edwin J.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.