Insider Selling: Lifeway Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:LWAY) CFO Sells $104,874.86 in Stock

Lifeway Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:LWAY) CFO Eric A. Hanson sold 5,546 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.91, for a total value of $104,874.86. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 25,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $483,074.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Lifeway Foods Stock Performance

LWAY stock opened at $19.15 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $281.64 million, a PE ratio of 22.27 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.98. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $13.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.20. Lifeway Foods, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $9.06 and a fifty-two week high of $28.61.

Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.08. Lifeway Foods had a return on equity of 22.34% and a net margin of 7.77%. The company had revenue of $49.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $46.50 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.21 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Lifeway Foods, Inc. will post 0.8 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on LWAY shares. StockNews.com cut Lifeway Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Noble Financial upgraded shares of Lifeway Foods from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Lake Street Capital raised their price objective on shares of Lifeway Foods from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th.

Institutional Trading of Lifeway Foods

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in shares of Lifeway Foods by 2,334.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 4,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 4,668 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Lifeway Foods in the second quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Bailard Inc. bought a new position in Lifeway Foods in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $187,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Lifeway Foods during the 2nd quarter worth $267,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lifeway Foods during the 4th quarter valued at $303,000. 36.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Lifeway Foods

Lifeway Foods, Inc produces and markets probiotic-based products in the United States and internationally. Its primary product is drinkable kefir, a cultured dairy product in various organic and non-organic sizes, flavors, and types. The company offers European-style soft cheeses; cream and other products; ProBugs, a line of kefir products designed for children; drinkable yogurt; and fresh made butter and sour cream.