Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Purchases New Holdings in Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. $LOB

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC acquired a new position in Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 140,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,724,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Simplicity Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Live Oak Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $543,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor purchased a new position in Live Oak Bancshares during the second quarter valued at $7,322,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new position in Live Oak Bancshares during the second quarter valued at $36,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Live Oak Bancshares in the second quarter worth $4,506,000. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Live Oak Bancshares in the second quarter worth $1,171,000. 63.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on LOB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Live Oak Bancshares from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.20.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David G. Lucht sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.13, for a total value of $126,390.00. Following the sale, the director owned 15,623 shares in the company, valued at approximately $658,196.99. This trade represents a 16.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Mark Michael Moroz sold 6,100 shares of Live Oak Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.08, for a total transaction of $256,688.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 12,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $509,588.80. This trade represents a 33.50% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 36,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,526,341 over the last three months. Insiders own 22.40% of the company’s stock.

Live Oak Bancshares Stock Performance

NYSE LOB opened at $43.23 on Tuesday. Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $29.36 and a one year high of $44.53. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $41.30 and a 200 day moving average of $38.33. The company has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.22 and a beta of 1.87.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.10. The business 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 11.77%. On average, equities analysts predict that Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Live Oak Bancshares

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.