Insider Selling: Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) Director Sells $264,193.10 in Stock

Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) Director William Williams III sold 6,590 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.09, for a total value of $264,193.10. Following the sale, the director owned 1,105,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,328,555.34. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Live Oak Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LOB traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $39.41. The stock had a trading volume of 173,332 shares, compared to its average volume of 274,448. The company has a market cap of $1.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.88 and a beta of 1.86. Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $29.36 and a twelve month high of $44.53. The business’s fifty day moving average is $41.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.29.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $156.15 million for the quarter. Live Oak Bancshares had a net margin of 12.68% and a return on equity of 11.77%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Live Oak Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given 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 is Tuesday, September 1st. Live Oak Bancshares’s payout ratio is 4.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Live Oak Bancshares from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Live Oak Bancshares from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings raised Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Live Oak Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.40.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Live Oak Bancshares

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LOB. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Live Oak Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth about $22,278,000. UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 29.4% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 160,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,520,000 after acquiring an additional 36,525 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP acquired a new position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,496,000. PDT Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,267,000. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Live Oak Bancshares during the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,955,000. Institutional investors own 63.95% of the company’s stock.

Live Oak Bancshares Company Profile

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.