William Blair Investment Management LLC Makes New Investment in Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. $LOB

William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 648,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,278,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Live Oak Bancshares by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,702,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,835,000 after acquiring an additional 17,181 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Live Oak Bancshares by 0.3% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,545,210 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,424,000 after acquiring an additional 5,046 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Live Oak Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth about $43,261,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Live Oak Bancshares by 655.6% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 687,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,339,000 after acquiring an additional 596,841 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 366.9% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 519,957 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,313,000 after buying an additional 408,591 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Walter J. Phifer sold 4,712 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.58, for a total transaction of $172,364.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer 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 company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.83, for a total transaction of $2,837,250.00. Following 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 82,712 shares of company stock valued at $3,119,715. Insiders own 22.40% of the company’s stock.

Live Oak Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of LOB opened at $37.26 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.27 and a beta of 1.92. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.70. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $145.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.02 million. Live Oak Bancshares had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 11.18%. Equities analysts expect that Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Live Oak Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Live Oak Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 4.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on LOB shares. TD Cowen reduced 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 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 research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Piper Sandler upped 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 note on Monday, April 27th. 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, April 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Live Oak Bancshares has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.40.

Live Oak Bancshares 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.