Bank of Nova Scotia Has $442,000 Stock Position in Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW)

Bank of Nova Scotia cut its holdings in shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) by 35.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,614 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 3,657 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Lamb Weston were worth $442,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

NYSE LW opened at $55.98 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.13, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $47.90 and a 1-year high of $89.51. The company has a 50 day moving average of $54.27 and a 200-day moving average of $64.95.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The specialty retailer reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.23. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 27.82% and a net margin of 5.80%. The firm had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be paid a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 2nd. Lamb Weston’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on LW shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $63.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Lamb Weston from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Citigroup cut Lamb Weston from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Lamb Weston in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.27.

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.