CENTRAL TRUST Co Trims Stake in Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW)

CENTRAL TRUST Co reduced its stake in shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) by 59.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,456 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 9,628 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Lamb Weston were worth $431,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Greenleaf Trust boosted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,805 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $254,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 128,377 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $8,579,000 after acquiring an additional 3,875 shares during the last quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC now owns 3,873 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 613 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 52,418 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,503,000 after acquiring an additional 2,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 9,306 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $622,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares during the last quarter. 89.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Lamb Weston in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $85.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Citigroup lowered Lamb Weston from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Lamb Weston in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “hold” rating and a $81.00 price objective on the stock. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $81.00.

Lamb Weston Price Performance

LW stock opened at $59.14 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. The company has a market capitalization of $8.44 billion, a PE ratio of 23.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.72. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $52.99 and a 12-month high of $107.50. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $67.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.78.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last released 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). Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 27.82% and a net margin of 5.80%. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. will post 3.1 EPS for the current year.

Lamb Weston Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.50%. This is a boost from Lamb Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. Lamb Weston’s payout ratio is presently 58.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lamb Weston news, Director Charles A. Blixt acquired 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $63.25 per share, with a total value of $75,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 22,982 shares in the company, valued at $1,453,611.50. The trade was a 5.51 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert A. Niblock acquired 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $60.94 per share, with a total value of $182,820.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 26,406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,609,181.64. This represents a 12.82 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.