Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.04 EPS

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The specialty retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.04, MarketWatch Earnings reports. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 9.24% and a return on equity of 130.91%. The business had revenue of $896.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $890.13 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 12.1% on a year-over-year basis.

Shares of NYSE:LW traded up $0.26 during trading on Friday, reaching $75.96. 17,289 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,211,061. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.98, a quick ratio of 2.58 and a current ratio of 3.44. Lamb Weston has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $96.32. The firm has a market cap of $11.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.81 and a beta of 0.77. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $75.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.36.

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The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 4th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. This is a boost from Lamb Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Lamb Weston’s payout ratio is presently 36.80%.

LW has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Lamb Weston from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $74.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Monday, December 7th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Lamb Weston from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $76.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. TheStreet raised Lamb Weston from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. BidaskClub downgraded Lamb Weston from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Lamb Weston from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Lamb Weston has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.00.

About Lamb Weston

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc produces, distributes, and markets value-added frozen potato products worldwide. It operates through four segments: Global, Foodservice, Retail, and Other. The company offers frozen potatoes, sweet potatoes, commercial ingredients, and appetizers under the Lamb Weston brand, as well as various customer labels.

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