Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $42.99 and last traded at $42.8580, with a volume of 10840 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $42.19.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on LOB shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Live Oak Bancshares from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on 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. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Live Oak Bancshares from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen lowered 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 note on Monday, April 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.80.

Live Oak Bancshares Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.26 and a beta of 1.88. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $38.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.46.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.06. Live Oak Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.18% and a net margin of 11.79%.The business had revenue of $145.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $146.02 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Live Oak Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Live Oak Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Live Oak Bancshares news, insider Renato Derraik sold 75,000 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 4,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $160,512.69. The trade was a 94.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William L. Williams III sold 8,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.61, for a total transaction of $349,524.00. Following the sale, the director owned 1,122,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,708,306.86. The trade was a 0.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 91,800 shares of company stock worth $3,523,194. 22.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Live Oak Bancshares

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 157.4% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 905 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth $55,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Live Oak Bancshares by 671.6% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 1,847 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in Live Oak Bancshares by 138.9% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 1,850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in Live Oak Bancshares by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,000 after buying an additional 642 shares during the period. 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.