Brokerages Set Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) PT at $44.40

Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $44.40.

Several equities analysts recently commented on LOB shares. 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased 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 report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective 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. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of 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.

Insider Activity at Live Oak Bancshares

In related news, insider Renato Derraik sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $160,512.69. This trade represents a 94.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 22.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Live Oak Bancshares

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LOB. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 28.7% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 18,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $495,000 after purchasing an additional 4,146 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in Live Oak Bancshares by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 20,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $549,000 after buying an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Live Oak Bancshares by 655.6% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 687,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,339,000 after buying an additional 596,841 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Live Oak Bancshares by 15.2% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 264,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,041,000 after buying an additional 34,849 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in Live Oak Bancshares during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,758,000. 63.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Live Oak Bancshares Stock Performance

NYSE:LOB opened at $37.56 on Friday. Live Oak Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $27.17 and a fifty-two week high of $42.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.39 and a beta of 1.89. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.02.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.02 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Live Oak Bancshares will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Live Oak Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 2nd will be given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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.