Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) Sets New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $43.86 and last traded at $43.7780, with a volume of 286396 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $42.80.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LOB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a 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. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.20.

Live Oak Bancshares Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.94. The firm has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.41 and a beta of 1.87.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.10. Live Oak Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.95% and a net margin of 12.68%.The firm had revenue of $156.15 million for the quarter. Equities research analysts anticipate that Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Live Oak Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders 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 was Tuesday, June 2nd. Live Oak Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.23%.

Insider Transactions at Live Oak Bancshares

In other news, Director David G. Lucht sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.13, for a total transaction of $126,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 15,623 shares in the company, valued at $658,196.99. This trade represents a 16.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 Live Oak Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.61, for a total value of $349,524.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,122,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,708,306.86. The trade was a 0.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 25,900 shares of company stock valued at $1,069,022 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 22.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Live Oak Bancshares

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. NewEdge Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Live Oak Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at $43,261,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Live Oak Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at about $22,278,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Live Oak Bancshares by 655.6% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 687,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,339,000 after purchasing an additional 596,841 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at $19,181,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 366.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 519,957 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,313,000 after purchasing an additional 408,591 shares in the last quarter. 63.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.