Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 17,181 Shares of Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. $LOB

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,702,627 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,181 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 5.89% of Live Oak Bancshares worth $92,835,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,284 shares of the company’s stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division raised its stake in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 13,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $448,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 60.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 70,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,490,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Level Four Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 31,426 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,107,000 after acquiring an additional 661 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Gregory W. Seward sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.70, for a total transaction of $110,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 113,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,176,349.90. This trade represents a 2.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Walter J. Phifer sold 4,712 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.58, for a total transaction of $172,364.96. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,103 shares in the company, valued at $369,567.74. This trade represents a 31.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 82,712 shares of company stock valued at $3,119,715 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 22.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LOB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of 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. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock 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 note on Tuesday, April 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced 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. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Live Oak Bancshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.40.

Live Oak Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of Live Oak Bancshares stock opened at $35.75 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $35.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.44. Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.19 and a 1 year high of $42.89. The stock has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a PE ratio of 13.70 and a beta of 1.92.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last issued its 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. Live Oak Bancshares had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 11.18%. The firm had revenue of $145.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.02 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Live Oak Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, March 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. 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.