Lamb Weston Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:LW)

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders acquired 31,574 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 301% compared to the average daily volume of 7,866 put options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lamb Weston news, Director Robert A. Niblock purchased 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 26,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,609,181.64. This trade represents a 12.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles A. Blixt purchased 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 22,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,453,611.50. The trade was 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 insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lamb Weston

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,646,887 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,112,511,000 after buying an additional 58,066 shares in the last quarter. JANA Partners Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. JANA Partners Management LP now owns 7,131,339 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $476,587,000 after buying an additional 1,302,585 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new position in shares of Lamb Weston in the fourth quarter worth approximately $423,270,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 9.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,221,665 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $402,791,000 after buying an additional 549,812 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,477,165 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $232,330,000 after buying an additional 735,901 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Lamb Weston in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $85.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Lamb Weston in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “hold” rating and a $81.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $87.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.73.

Lamb Weston Price Performance

Shares of LW opened at $50.98 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $7.27 billion, a PE ratio of 20.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 1.35. Lamb Weston has a fifty-two week low of $47.90 and a fifty-two week high of $107.50. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.44.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 27.82% and a net margin of 5.80%. Lamb Weston’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.45 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from Lamb Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio is 58.50%.

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.