Summit Investment Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW)

Summit Investment Advisors Inc. lowered its position in shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,366 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 417 shares during the quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Lamb Weston were worth $1,094,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Lamb Weston during the fourth quarter valued at $96,736,000. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,477,165 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $232,330,000 after purchasing an additional 735,901 shares during the last quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Lamb Weston by 697.4% in the 4th quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 350,268 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $23,408,000 after purchasing an additional 306,343 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Lamb Weston during the 4th quarter valued at about $19,802,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Lamb Weston by 97.9% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 588,027 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $39,298,000 after purchasing an additional 290,901 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

Lamb Weston Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of LW stock opened at $53.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The company has a market cap of $7.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.13, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.48. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $47.90 and a 1 year high of $89.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $53.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.72.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The specialty retailer reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.23. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 27.82% and a net margin of 5.80%. The business had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $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, equities analysts predict that Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on LW shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $63.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Lamb Weston from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com raised Lamb Weston to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Lamb Weston from $87.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.27.

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.