California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 16,100 Shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its position in Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 178,673 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 16,100 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.13% of Lamb Weston worth $11,941,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. West Oak Capital LLC raised its stake in Lamb Weston by 155.7% during the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 450 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Lamb Weston in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Lamb Weston in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Lamb Weston during the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Advantage Trust Co purchased a new stake in Lamb Weston during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of Lamb Weston in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Lamb Weston to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Lamb Weston from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $68.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.09.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

Shares of Lamb Weston stock opened at $59.11 on Friday. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $47.90 and a 12 month high of $89.51. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $55.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.56. The firm has a market cap of $8.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The specialty retailer reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.23. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 27.82% and a net margin of 5.80%. The company had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. Lamb Weston’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be paid a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.50%. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.50%.

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 price of $60.94 per share, with a total value of $182,820.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 26,406 shares in the company, valued at $1,609,181.64. The trade was a 12.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

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.