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

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 20th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of 0.37 per share by the specialty retailer on Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change from Lamb Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36.

Lamb Weston has raised its dividend payment by an average of 6.8% annually over the last three years. Lamb Weston has a payout ratio of 29.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Lamb Weston to earn $4.97 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.0%.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

Shares of LW opened at $62.09 on Friday. Lamb Weston has a 52-week low of $52.99 and a 52-week high of $111.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The firm has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.58, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.70. The business’s 50 day moving average is $76.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.48.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.01 by ($0.35). Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 34.33% and a net margin of 9.57%. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.45 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Lamb Weston will post 4.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on LW shares. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Lamb Weston in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $85.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Citigroup lowered Lamb Weston from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $90.00 to $68.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Lamb Weston from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $81.42.

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.