Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) Director Sells $336,420.00 in 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 shares were sold at an average price of $40.05, for a total value of $336,420.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,130,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,293,586.30. This represents a 0.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Live Oak Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of LOB stock opened at $41.32 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $37.70 and its 200-day moving average is $36.81. Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $29.36 and a 52 week high of $42.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.91 billion, a PE ratio of 15.83 and a beta of 1.89.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $145.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $146.02 million. Live Oak Bancshares had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 11.18%. As a group, analysts forecast that Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend 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 is 4.60%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Live Oak Bancshares

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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