Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.37 Per Share

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 20th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.37 per share by the specialty retailer on Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. 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.

Lamb Weston has raised its dividend by an average of 6.8% per year over the last three years. Lamb Weston has a payout ratio of 29.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Lamb Weston to earn $4.97 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.0%.

Lamb Weston Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of LW stock opened at $62.09 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. Lamb Weston has a 12-month low of $52.99 and a 12-month high of $111.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.70. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $76.76 and its 200 day moving average is $72.58.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by ($0.35). Lamb Weston had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 34.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Lamb Weston will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LW has been the topic of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Lamb Weston in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “hold” rating and a $81.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America increased their target price on Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Lamb Weston from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Lamb Weston from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Lamb Weston from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $81.42.

About Lamb Weston

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.