UBS Group AG Grows Stake in Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. $LOB

UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) by 29.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 160,710 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 36,525 shares during the period. UBS Group AG’s holdings in Live Oak Bancshares were worth $5,520,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 60.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new stake in shares of Live Oak Bancshares in the third quarter valued at about $63,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 138.9% in the second 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. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Live Oak Bancshares by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,000 after acquiring an additional 642 shares during the period. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its holdings in Live Oak Bancshares by 111.2% during the 2nd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 6,170 shares of the company’s stock worth $184,000 after acquiring an additional 3,248 shares in the last quarter. 63.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Live Oak Bancshares

In other news, CFO Walter J. Phifer sold 4,712 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.58, for a total transaction of $172,364.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $369,567.74. This represents a 31.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Renato Derraik sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.83, for a total value of $2,837,250.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 4,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $160,512.69. This represents a 94.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 82,712 shares of company stock worth $3,119,715 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 22.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research raised shares of Live Oak Bancshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $51.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.40.

Live Oak Bancshares Price Performance

LOB opened at $37.00 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of 14.17 and a beta of 1.92. The business’s 50-day moving average is $35.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.57. Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.19 and a 1 year high of $42.89.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.06. Live Oak Bancshares had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 11.18%. The business had revenue of $145.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $146.02 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Live Oak Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Live Oak Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio 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.