William Williams III Sells 8,400 Shares of Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) Stock

Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) Director William Williams III sold 8,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.05, for a total value of $336,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,130,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,293,586.30. The trade was a 0.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Live Oak Bancshares Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of Live Oak Bancshares stock opened at $41.32 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.81. The company has a market cap of $1.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.83 and a beta of 1.89. Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $29.36 and a 12-month high of $42.89.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $145.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.02 million. Live Oak Bancshares had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 11.18%. Analysts predict that Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Live Oak Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 2nd were paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 2nd. Live Oak Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.60%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Live Oak Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LOB. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 53.3% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 75,125 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,484,000 after purchasing an additional 26,116 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Live Oak Bancshares by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 89,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,949,000 after buying an additional 3,038 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in Live Oak Bancshares by 53.2% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 29,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $982,000 after buying an additional 10,305 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Live Oak Bancshares by 4.5% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 41,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,360,000 after buying an additional 1,770 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Southernsun Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Live Oak Bancshares by 0.4% during the first quarter. Southernsun Asset Management LLC now owns 1,033,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,179,000 after buying an additional 4,431 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on LOB. Weiss Ratings upgraded Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Live Oak Bancshares from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Live Oak Bancshares from $51.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research raised Live Oak Bancshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Live Oak Bancshares from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.40.

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.