Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) Stock

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) had its price target increased by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $45.00 to $47.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 10.02% from the company’s current price.

LOB has been the subject of several other reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $51.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 27th. Piper Sandler upped their target price 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. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Live Oak Bancshares from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.80.

Live Oak Bancshares Stock Performance

NYSE:LOB traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $42.72. The stock had a trading volume of 87,067 shares, compared to its average volume of 288,096. Live Oak Bancshares has a one year low of $29.36 and a one year high of $43.85. The company has a market cap of $1.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.04 and a beta of 1.88. The business’s 50 day moving average is $39.37 and its 200-day moving average is $37.68.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $156.15 million for the quarter. Live Oak Bancshares had a net margin of 12.68% and a return on equity of 11.95%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Live Oak Bancshares will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Live Oak Bancshares

In other Live Oak Bancshares news, Director William L. Williams III sold 8,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.61, for a total transaction of $349,524.00. Following the transaction, the director 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Renato Derraik sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.83, for a total value of $2,837,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 4,243 shares in the company, valued at $160,512.69. This represents a 94.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 91,800 shares of company stock worth $3,523,194 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 22.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Live Oak Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,702,627 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,835,000 after purchasing an additional 17,181 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,593,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,685,000 after buying an additional 54,750 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Live Oak Bancshares by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,308,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,946,000 after buying an additional 63,325 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Live Oak Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,261,000. Finally, Southernsun Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Live Oak Bancshares by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Southernsun Asset Management LLC now owns 1,033,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,179,000 after acquiring an additional 4,431 shares during the period. 63.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.