Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) Upgraded at BTIG Research

Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) was upgraded by BTIG Research to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts also recently commented on LWAY. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Lifeway Foods from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lifeway Foods from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 15th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Lifeway Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Lifeway Foods in a report on Monday, June 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.00.

Lifeway Foods Trading Up 3.5%

Shares of Lifeway Foods stock opened at $25.91 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.15. Lifeway Foods has a 1 year low of $17.31 and a 1 year high of $34.20. The company has a market capitalization of $391.50 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.01 and a beta of 0.44.

Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.26 by ($0.25). The company had revenue of $66.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.40 million. Lifeway Foods had a net margin of 4.48% and a return on equity of 12.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Divisadero Street Capital Mana bought 35,952 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $24.78 per share, for a total transaction of $890,890.56. Following the transaction, the insider owned 2,348,108 shares in the company, valued at $58,186,116.24. The trade was a 1.55% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Smolyansky bought 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.26 per share, with a total value of $50,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,214,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,928,039.70. This trade represents a 0.09% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 248,568 shares of company stock worth $6,176,730 and sold 592,698 shares worth $17,070,367. 18.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LWAY. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in Lifeway Foods during the second quarter worth about $17,459,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Lifeway Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at about $9,614,000. Pillsbury Lake Capital LLC bought a new position in Lifeway Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at about $8,704,597,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Lifeway Foods by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 235,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,558,000 after buying an additional 19,035 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AWM Investment Company Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lifeway Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $6,654,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.39% of the company’s stock.

Lifeway Foods Company Profile

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.