Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $44.20.

A number of research firms recently commented on LOB. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Live Oak Bancshares from $53.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Live Oak Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Live Oak Bancshares in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Live Oak Bancshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Live Oak Bancshares

In other news, insider Courtney Spencer sold 9,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.01, for a total transaction of $378,397.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 25,160 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $981,491.60. The trade was a 27.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Walter J. Phifer sold 4,712 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.58, for a total value of $172,364.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 10,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $369,567.74. This trade represents a 31.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 17,412 shares of company stock valued at $660,862 over the last three months. Insiders own 23.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Live Oak Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. NewEdge Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth about $43,261,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at about $22,278,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 655.6% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 687,885 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,339,000 after acquiring an additional 596,841 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new stake in Live Oak Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth approximately $19,181,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Live Oak Bancshares by 366.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 519,957 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,313,000 after acquiring an additional 408,591 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.95% of the company’s stock.

Live Oak Bancshares Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE:LOB opened at $31.87 on Friday. Live Oak Bancshares has a 12 month low of $22.68 and a 12 month high of $42.89. The company has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a PE ratio of 14.36 and a beta of 1.97. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.50.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $161.86 million for the quarter. Live Oak Bancshares had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 10.09%.

Live Oak Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. Live Oak Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.41%.

About Live Oak Bancshares

Live Oak Bancshares, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, and operates through its subsidiary Live Oak Banking Company. Founded in 2008, the company leverages a branchless, technology-driven platform to deliver specialty lending and deposit products across the United States. Live Oak Bancshares completed its initial public offering in February 2018 and trades on the NYSE under the ticker symbol LOB.

The company’s primary focus is on originating and servicing commercial loans for small businesses in select industry verticals.