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

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 35,906 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 291% compared to the typical daily volume of 9,194 put options.

Insider Activity at Lamb Weston

In other Lamb Weston news, Director Robert A. Niblock purchased 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $60.94 per share, for a total transaction of $182,820.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 26,406 shares in the company, valued at $1,609,181.64. This represents a 12.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Charles A. Blixt bought 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $63.25 per share, with a total value of $75,900.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 22,982 shares in the company, valued at $1,453,611.50. This represents a 5.51 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LW. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Lamb Weston by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,221,665 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $402,791,000 after buying an additional 549,812 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Lamb Weston by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,388,056 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $218,598,000 after purchasing an additional 24,097 shares during the last quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Lamb Weston by 108.7% in the third quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,107,929 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $201,207,000 after buying an additional 1,618,570 shares during the period. TPG GP A LLC grew its stake in shares of Lamb Weston by 74.4% during the second quarter. TPG GP A LLC now owns 2,924,230 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $245,869,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247,206 shares during the period. Finally, Southpoint Capital Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Lamb Weston in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $129,480,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on LW shares. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $87.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein started 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Lamb Weston in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “hold” rating and a $81.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lamb Weston currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $81.00.

Lamb Weston Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LW traded up $1.35 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $61.43. 408,000 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,281,667. Lamb Weston has a 52 week low of $52.99 and a 52 week high of $110.46. The company has a market cap of $8.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.39, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $70.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.01 by ($0.35). The company had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 5.80% and a return on equity of 27.82%. Lamb Weston’s quarterly revenue was down 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.45 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Lamb Weston will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamb Weston Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from Lamb Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. Lamb Weston’s payout ratio is 56.92%.

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.