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 firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.09, for a total value of $264,193.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,105,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,328,555.34. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Live Oak Bancshares Stock Performance

NYSE:LOB opened at $39.07 on Friday. Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $29.36 and a 52-week high of $44.53. The firm has a market cap of $1.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.76 and a beta of 1.86. The business’s fifty day moving average is $41.46 and its 200 day moving average is $38.26.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $156.15 million during the quarter. Live Oak Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.77% and a net margin of 12.68%. Equities analysts predict that Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Live Oak Bancshares Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Live Oak Bancshares

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 28.7% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 18,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $495,000 after acquiring an additional 4,146 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Live Oak Bancshares by 4.5% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 20,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $549,000 after acquiring an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased 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 valued at $18,339,000 after acquiring an additional 596,841 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Live Oak Bancshares by 15.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 264,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,041,000 after purchasing an additional 34,849 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Live Oak Bancshares during the first quarter valued at about $1,758,000. Institutional investors own 63.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on LOB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target 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. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Live Oak Bancshares from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Live Oak Bancshares from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Zacks Research cut Live Oak Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Live Oak Bancshares from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.40.

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.