Equitable Trust Co. Invests $487,000 in Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. $LOB

Equitable Trust Co. purchased a new stake in Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 14,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $487,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp raised its position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,718,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division increased its stake in Live Oak Bancshares by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 13,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $448,000 after buying an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Live Oak Bancshares by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 6,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,000 after buying an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 38,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,323,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares during the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 7,889 shares of the company’s stock valued at $271,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the company. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Live Oak Bancshares from $51.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of 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 shares of Live Oak Bancshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.40.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Renato Derraik sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were 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 owned 4,243 shares in the company, valued at $160,512.69. This trade represents a 94.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director William L. Williams III sold 8,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.61, for a total value of $349,524.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,122,526 shares in the company, valued at $46,708,306.86. This represents a 0.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 91,800 shares of company stock valued at $3,523,194. 22.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Live Oak Bancshares Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE LOB traded up $0.32 on Friday, reaching $41.64. 200,215 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 309,711. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $38.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.95 and a beta of 1.88. Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $29.36 and a fifty-two week high of $42.89.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.06. Live Oak Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.18% and a net margin of 11.79%.The business had revenue of $145.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.02 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Live Oak Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 2nd. Live Oak Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.60%.

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.