La-Z-Boy (NYSE:LZB) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

La-Z-Boy Incorporated (NYSE:LZB) gapped up prior to trading on Friday. The stock had previously closed at $28.68, but opened at $30.03. La-Z-Boy shares last traded at $29.6950, with a volume of 9,258 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LZB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on La-Z-Boy from $46.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded La-Z-Boy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of La-Z-Boy from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded La-Z-Boy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.50.

La-Z-Boy Trading Down 2.4%

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $31.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.24.

La-Z-Boy (NYSE:LZB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 18th. The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.06). La-Z-Boy had a net margin of 3.86% and a return on equity of 11.79%. The company had revenue of $475.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $501.44 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. La-Z-Boy’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that La-Z-Boy Incorporated will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current year.

La-Z-Boy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.2420 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. La-Z-Boy’s payout ratio is currently 49.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at La-Z-Boy

In other La-Z-Boy news, Director Janet Kerr sold 3,653 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.75, for a total value of $115,982.75. Following the sale, the director owned 4,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,968.75. The trade was a 46.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Robert Sundy, II sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.85, for a total transaction of $154,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 59,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,829,312.45. The trade was a 7.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of La-Z-Boy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in La-Z-Boy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $265,535,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in La-Z-Boy by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,694,255 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,594,000 after purchasing an additional 38,870 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of La-Z-Boy by 2.6% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 755,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,085,000 after buying an additional 18,997 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its position in shares of La-Z-Boy by 4.6% during the first quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 591,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,022,000 after buying an additional 26,009 shares during the period. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of La-Z-Boy in the second quarter valued at approximately $19,511,000. 99.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About La-Z-Boy

La-Z-Boy Incorporated (NYSE:LZB) is an American furniture manufacturer and retailer best known for its upholstered reclining chairs and sofas. The company offers a broad range of residential furniture, including stationary and motion upholstery, sectionals, sofas, chairs, recliners, bedroom furniture, dining furniture, occasional tables and home accessories.

Founded in 1927, La-Z-Boy traces its origins to the development of an upholstered reclining chair by cousins Edward M. Knabusch and Edwin J.