Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Increases Holdings in Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) by 410.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,731 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Lamb Weston were worth $314,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in LW. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 27.1% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,043 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 649 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,671 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $397,000 after buying an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 25.6% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 34,461 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,725,000 after buying an additional 7,028 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston during the 4th quarter valued at about $234,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston during the 4th quarter valued at about $93,553,000. 89.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $132.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. TD Cowen lowered shares of Lamb Weston from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $98.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Consumer Edge lowered shares of Lamb Weston from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lamb Weston currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director William G. Jurgensen bought 10,000 shares of Lamb Weston stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $55.43 per share, with a total value of $554,300.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 173,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,610,287.11. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Lamb Weston Price Performance

Shares of LW stock opened at $65.77 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $80.13. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $52.99 and a one year high of $111.88. The company has a market capitalization of $9.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.78, a P/E/G ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 0.75.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The specialty retailer reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.24 by ($0.46). Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 44.06% and a net margin of 11.22%. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. will post 4.54 EPS for the current year.

Lamb Weston Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 2nd. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.23%.

Lamb Weston 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.