Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) Stock Passes Above 200 Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Lifeway Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:LWAY)’s share price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $24.27 and traded as high as $31.05. Lifeway Foods shares last traded at $30.44, with a volume of 87,532 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on LWAY shares. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Lifeway Foods in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Lifeway Foods from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.33.

Lifeway Foods Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 2.14. The stock has a market cap of $465.12 million, a PE ratio of 31.38 and a beta of 0.45. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $27.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.27.

Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.30. The firm had revenue of $63.01 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.80 million. Lifeway Foods had a return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 6.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Ludmila Smolyansky sold 45,616 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.65, for a total value of $1,352,514.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 607,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,003,687.55. The trade was a 6.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Divisadero Street Capital Mana acquired 33,174 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.27 per share, with a total value of $838,306.98. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 2,101,540 shares in the company, valued at $53,105,915.80. This represents a 1.60% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 3,906,454 shares of company stock valued at $80,235,639 over the last quarter. 18.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of LWAY. Carlson Capital L.P. bought a new stake in Lifeway Foods in the first quarter valued at approximately $193,000. Vivaldi Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Lifeway Foods during the 1st quarter valued at $213,000. Teton Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Lifeway Foods in the 1st quarter worth $193,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its position in shares of Lifeway Foods by 33.5% in the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 214,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,151,000 after acquiring an additional 53,900 shares during the period. Finally, State of Wyoming raised its stake in shares of Lifeway Foods by 9.0% during the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 9,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,000 after acquiring an additional 747 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.39% of the company’s stock.

About Lifeway Foods

Lifeway Foods, Inc (NASDAQ: LWAY) is a Chicago-based food company specializing in probiotic-rich cultured dairy products. Established in 1986 by Michael Smolyansky, the company pioneered the introduction of kefir to the U.S. market. Under the leadership of CEO Julie Smolyansky, who succeeded her father in 2002, Lifeway has grown from a single product operation into a diversified portfolio of fermented foods and beverages aimed at promoting digestive health and wellness.

The company’s flagship product is kefir, a cultured milk beverage naturally rich in probiotics, vitamins and minerals.