Champlain Investment Partners LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW)

Champlain Investment Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW - Free Report) by 10.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,747,255 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 203,770 shares during the quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC owned approximately 1.22% of Lamb Weston worth $116,769,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LW. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Lamb Weston by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,646,887 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $1,112,511,000 after buying an additional 58,066 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 26.8% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,477,165 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $232,330,000 after purchasing an additional 735,901 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Lamb Weston by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,436,604 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $229,065,000 after purchasing an additional 48,548 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Lamb Weston by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,226,695 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $215,640,000 after buying an additional 187,058 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston in the 4th quarter worth about $96,736,000. 89.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays dropped their target price on Lamb Weston from $87.00 to $69.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $63.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Lamb Weston to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lamb Weston has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $71.27.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

LW traded up $1.07 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $52.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 430,255 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,670,282. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $53.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.48. The firm has a market cap of $7.42 billion, a PE ratio of 20.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.48. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $47.90 and a one year high of $89.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The specialty retailer reported $1.10 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.50 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. Lamb Weston's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Lamb Weston's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.04%.

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.