Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) Short Interest Down 8.5% in December

Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 410,800 shares, a decline of 8.5% from the December 15th total of 448,800 shares. Approximately 2.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 135,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lancaster Colony

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LANC. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in Lancaster Colony in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lancaster Colony in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Lancaster Colony by 56.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Lancaster Colony in the 2nd quarter valued at about $74,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Lancaster Colony by 66.7% during the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $177,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. 66.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LANC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $196.00 price target on shares of Lancaster Colony in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Lancaster Colony in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their target price on Lancaster Colony from $232.00 to $227.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st.

Lancaster Colony Trading Up 0.5 %

LANC opened at $171.10 on Friday. Lancaster Colony has a twelve month low of $163.20 and a twelve month high of $215.31. The firm has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.60 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $180.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $182.14.

Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.70 by ($0.08). Lancaster Colony had a net margin of 8.49% and a return on equity of 19.01%. The business had revenue of $466.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $468.36 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.70 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Lancaster Colony will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lancaster Colony Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $0.95 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This is an increase from Lancaster Colony’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. Lancaster Colony’s payout ratio is currently 65.74%.

Lancaster Colony Company Profile

Lancaster Colony Corporation engages in the manufacturing and marketing of specialty food products for the retail and foodservice channels in the United States. It operates in two segments, Retail and Foodservice. The company offers frozen garlic bread under the New York BRAND Bakery; frozen Parkerhouse style yeast and dinner rolls under the Sister Schubert's brand; salad dressings under the Marzetti, Simply Dressed, Cardini's, and Girard's brands; vegetable and fruit dips under the Marzetti brand; croutons and salad toppings under the New York BRAND Bakery, Chatham Village, and Marzetti brands; and frozen pasta under the Marzetti Frozen Pasta brand.