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

Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the six brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $44.40.

LOB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. 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. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $51.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Piper Sandler increased 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. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th.

Live Oak Bancshares Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:LOB opened at $40.96 on Tuesday. Live Oak Bancshares has a 52 week low of $29.36 and a 52 week high of $42.89. The company’s 50 day moving average is $37.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.90. The company has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a PE ratio of 15.69 and a beta of 1.89.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $0.60 EPS 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 company had revenue of $145.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.02 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Live Oak Bancshares will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Live Oak Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 2nd were given a $0.03 dividend. 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 4.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director William L. Williams III sold 8,400 shares of the 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 transaction, the director directly owned 1,130,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,293,586.30. This trade represents a 0.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 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 transaction of $2,837,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,243 shares in the company, valued at $160,512.69. This trade represents a 94.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 22.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Live Oak Bancshares

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. NewEdge Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Live Oak Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth $43,261,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Live Oak Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth $22,278,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL boosted its stake in Live Oak Bancshares by 39.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 175,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,187,000 after purchasing an additional 49,644 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in Live Oak Bancshares by 29.4% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 160,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,520,000 after purchasing an additional 36,525 shares during the period. Finally, Sovran Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Live Oak Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth $1,134,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.95% of the company’s stock.

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.