Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.37

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 20th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of 0.37 per share by the specialty retailer on Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change from Lamb Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36.

Lamb Weston has increased its dividend by an average of 6.8% annually over the last three years. Lamb Weston has a payout ratio of 29.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Lamb Weston to earn $4.97 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.0%.

Lamb Weston Trading Down 0.7 %

LW stock traded down $0.41 on Friday, reaching $62.09. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,509,948 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,534,457. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.75. Lamb Weston has a 12-month low of $52.99 and a 12-month high of $111.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a PE ratio of 14.58, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.70.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by ($0.35). The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 34.33% and a net margin of 9.57%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.45 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lamb Weston will post 4.26 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup downgraded shares of Lamb Weston from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Friday. Barclays lifted their price objective on Lamb Weston from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Lamb Weston in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $81.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Lamb Weston in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lamb Weston has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $81.42.

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.