Grandfield & Dodd LLC Buys New Stake in Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW)

Grandfield & Dodd LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 35,022 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,341,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. West Oak Capital LLC raised its stake in Lamb Weston by 155.7% in the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 450 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Lamb Weston in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in Lamb Weston during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Lamb Weston during the third quarter valued at $39,000. 89.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert A. Niblock purchased 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $60.94 per share, with a total value of $182,820.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 26,406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,609,181.64. The trade was a 12.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Charles A. Blixt bought 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $63.25 per share, for a total transaction of $75,900.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 22,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,453,611.50. This trade represents a 5.51 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lamb Weston Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:LW opened at $51.87 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $7.40 billion, a PE ratio of 20.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $50.28 and a 12-month high of $107.50. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.21.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.01 by ($0.35). The company had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 5.80% and a return on equity of 27.82%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.45 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.85%. This is a boost from Lamb Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.50%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on LW. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lamb Weston to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Lamb Weston in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Lamb Weston in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “hold” rating and a $81.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $81.00.

Lamb Weston Company 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.