Investors Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW)

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders bought 34,659 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 336% compared to the typical volume of 7,946 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lamb Weston

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crewe Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 357.5% in the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 334 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. City State Bank lifted its holdings in Lamb Weston by 56.2% in the 3rd quarter. City State Bank now owns 417 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston during the second quarter worth $36,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Lamb Weston by 251.6% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 436 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lamb Weston in the third quarter worth about $29,000. 89.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America increased their price target on Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Lamb Weston from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Lamb Weston from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Barclays upped 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $84.25.

Lamb Weston Price Performance

LW traded down $15.72 during trading on Thursday, hitting $62.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,297,362 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,518,215. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.70. Lamb Weston has a twelve month low of $52.99 and a twelve month high of $111.88. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $76.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.01 by ($0.35). The company had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 34.33%. Lamb Weston's revenue was down 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.45 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lamb Weston will post 4.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. Lamb Weston's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.80%.

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.