Argent Trust Co Makes New Investment in Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW)

Argent Trust Co bought a new stake in Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 3,251 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Lamb Weston by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,646,887 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,112,511,000 after acquiring an additional 58,066 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in Lamb Weston by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,477,165 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $232,330,000 after purchasing an additional 735,901 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Lamb Weston by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,436,604 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $229,065,000 after purchasing an additional 48,548 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,226,695 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $215,640,000 after purchasing an additional 187,058 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston during the 4th quarter worth about $96,736,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert A. Niblock acquired 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $60.94 per share, with a total value of $182,820.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,609,181.64. This trade represents a 12.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Lamb Weston Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE LW opened at $54.62 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $7.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.59, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.48. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.04. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $47.90 and a 12-month high of $89.51. 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 (NYSE:LW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The specialty retailer reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 27.82% and a net margin of 5.80%. Lamb Weston’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd will be paid a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on LW shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $87.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Citigroup downgraded shares of Lamb Weston from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $90.00 to $68.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lamb Weston has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.27.

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.