Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) Increases Dividend to $0.37 Per Share

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

Lamb Weston has raised its dividend payment by an average of 6.8% per year over the last three years. Lamb Weston has a payout ratio of 29.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research 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 Price Performance

Shares of LW opened at $62.09 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $76.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.58. The company has a market capitalization of $8.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.70. Lamb Weston has a fifty-two week low of $52.99 and a fifty-two week 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.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last posted 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 34.33% and a net margin of 9.57%. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Lamb Weston will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Lamb Weston in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “hold” rating and a $81.00 target price on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Lamb Weston in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $85.00 price objective for the company. Barclays increased their target price on Lamb Weston from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lamb Weston currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.