TD Cowen Increases Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) Price Target to $65.00

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) had its target price upped by TD Cowen from $61.00 to $65.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. TD Cowen currently has a hold rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on LW. Consumer Edge downgraded Lamb Weston from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Lamb Weston from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Barclays lowered their price target on Lamb Weston from $96.00 to $70.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Lamb Weston from $108.00 to $63.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Lamb Weston from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $80.70.

Lamb Weston Price Performance

NYSE:LW opened at $66.80 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.29. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.52. The company has a market cap of $9.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.92, a P/E/G ratio of 6.18 and a beta of 0.75. Lamb Weston has a 52-week low of $52.99 and a 52-week high of $111.88.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The specialty retailer reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24 by ($0.46). The company had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 44.06%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lamb Weston will post 4.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 2nd. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.23%.

Insider Transactions at Lamb Weston

In other news, Director William G. Jurgensen acquired 10,000 shares of Lamb Weston stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was bought at an average price of $55.43 per share, for a total transaction of $554,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 173,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,610,287.11. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lamb Weston

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LW. Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $234,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 31,958 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,454,000 after buying an additional 7,185 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 37.8% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 53,145 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $5,744,000 after buying an additional 14,589 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 14,036 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,517,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 51.7% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 164,922 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $17,827,000 after buying an additional 56,180 shares during the period. 89.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Lamb Weston

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.