Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the six brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $44.40.

LOB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Live Oak Bancshares from $51.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Live Oak Bancshares from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note 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 cut their target price on Live Oak Bancshares from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th.

Live Oak Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of LOB stock opened at $38.62 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $37.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.80 and a beta of 1.89. Live Oak Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $27.76 and a fifty-two week high of $42.89.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $145.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $146.02 million. Live Oak Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.18% and a net margin of 11.79%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Live Oak Bancshares will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Live Oak Bancshares Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Renato Derraik sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.83, for a total transaction of $2,837,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 4,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $160,512.69. This trade represents a 94.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 22.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Live Oak Bancshares

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in Live Oak Bancshares by 157.4% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 905 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Live Oak Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at about $55,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Live Oak Bancshares by 671.6% in the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in Live Oak Bancshares by 138.9% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 1,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its position in Live Oak Bancshares by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,000 after acquiring an additional 642 shares in the last quarter. 63.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Live Oak Bancshares Company Profile

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.