Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Purchases 18,347 Shares of Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. $LOB

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) by 36.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 68,135 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 18,347 shares during the quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Live Oak Bancshares were worth $2,340,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LOB. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position 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 buying an additional 4,146 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 20,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $549,000 after buying an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 655.6% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 687,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,339,000 after buying an additional 596,841 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 15.2% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 264,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,041,000 after buying an additional 34,849 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares during the 1st quarter worth $1,758,000. Institutional investors own 63.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Renato Derraik sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $160,512.69. This trade represents a 94.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 22.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LOB. Weiss Ratings downgraded Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Live Oak Bancshares from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research raised Live Oak Bancshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Live Oak Bancshares from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Live Oak Bancshares from $51.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.40.

Live Oak Bancshares Stock Performance

Live Oak Bancshares stock opened at $38.22 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $36.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.25. Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $27.35 and a one year high of $42.89. The stock has a market cap of $1.77 billion, a PE ratio of 14.64 and a beta of 1.89.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $145.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.02 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Live Oak Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 2nd will be paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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 (DPR) is 4.60%.

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.