Southpoint Capital Advisors LP Reduces Holdings in Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW)

Southpoint Capital Advisors LP decreased its stake in shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,902,243 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 97,757 shares during the period. Lamb Weston accounts for 3.0% of Southpoint Capital Advisors LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP owned about 1.33% of Lamb Weston worth $127,127,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Soviero Asset Management LP bought a new position in Lamb Weston in the 4th quarter worth about $3,342,000. State of Wyoming increased its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 60.6% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 3,357 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267 shares during the last quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Lamb Weston by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,393 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $227,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH bought a new position in Lamb Weston during the 4th quarter worth approximately $823,000. Finally, Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in Lamb Weston during the 4th quarter worth approximately $11,546,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on LW. Barclays dropped their price objective on Lamb Weston from $69.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Lamb Weston from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Lamb Weston from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $56.00 price objective on Lamb Weston and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.91.

Lamb Weston Trading Up 3.9%

Shares of LW stock opened at $53.81 on Monday. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $47.90 and a 1 year high of $89.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.49. The company has a market cap of $7.59 billion, a PE ratio of 21.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.46.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The specialty retailer reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 27.82% and a net margin of 5.80%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Lamb Weston Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio is 58.04%.

Lamb Weston 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.