Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $44.80.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on LOB shares. Piper Sandler increased 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. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $51.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th.

Live Oak Bancshares Stock Performance

Live Oak Bancshares stock opened at $42.44 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.26 and a beta of 1.88. Live Oak Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $29.36 and a fifty-two week high of $43.85. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $38.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.46.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $145.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.02 million. Live Oak Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.18% and a net margin of 11.79%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Live Oak Bancshares will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Live Oak Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 2nd were paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Live Oak Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director William L. Williams III sold 8,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director directly owned 1,122,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,708,306.86. The trade was a 0.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Renato Derraik sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.83, for a total value of $2,837,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $160,512.69. This trade represents a 94.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 91,800 shares of company stock worth $3,523,194. 22.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Live Oak Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LOB. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Live Oak Bancshares by 157.4% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 905 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Live Oak Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth about $55,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 671.6% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,000 after buying an additional 642 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.