Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) Declares $0.37 Quarterly Dividend

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 20th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd will be paid a dividend of 0.37 per share by the specialty retailer on Friday, May 30th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%.

Lamb Weston has increased its dividend payment by an average of 15.3% annually over the last three years. Lamb Weston has a dividend payout ratio of 37.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Lamb Weston to earn $3.64 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 40.7%.

Lamb Weston Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of LW stock opened at $52.75 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $56.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.20. Lamb Weston has a 12-month low of $47.90 and a 12-month high of $107.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.76.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by ($0.35). Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 27.82% and a net margin of 5.80%. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.45 EPS. Lamb Weston’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Lamb Weston will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Charles A. Blixt bought 1,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $63.25 per share, with a total value of $75,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,982 shares in the company, valued at $1,453,611.50. The trade was a 5.51 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert A. Niblock purchased 3,000 shares of Lamb Weston stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $60.94 per share, for a total transaction of $182,820.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,609,181.64. This represents a 12.82 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Lamb Weston in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $81.00 price target on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Lamb Weston in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced 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. Finally, Citigroup cut Lamb Weston from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.73.

Lamb Weston Company 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.