Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Takes Position in Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW)

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 211,038 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $17,744,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LW. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston by 27.1% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,043 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 649 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Lamb Weston during the fourth quarter valued at $189,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Lamb Weston by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 998,572 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $107,936,000 after acquiring an additional 27,253 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in Lamb Weston by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,671 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $397,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in Lamb Weston by 25.6% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 34,461 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,725,000 after acquiring an additional 7,028 shares during the last quarter. 89.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director William G. Jurgensen purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $55.43 per share, with a total value of $554,300.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 173,377 shares in the company, valued at $9,610,287.11. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on LW. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Lamb Weston from $132.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Lamb Weston from $98.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Stifel Nicolaus cut Lamb Weston from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $115.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. TD Cowen cut Lamb Weston from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on Lamb Weston from $106.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lamb Weston currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.70.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

NYSE:LW opened at $64.17 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $52.99 and a 12-month high of $111.88. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $64.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.57, a P/E/G ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 0.75.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The specialty retailer reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.24 by ($0.46). Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 44.06% and a net margin of 11.22%. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. will post 4.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 2nd were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 2nd. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.23%.

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.