Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $46.40.

LOB has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen upped their price target on Live Oak Bancshares from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Zacks Research downgraded Live Oak Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Live Oak Bancshares from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, 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 research report on Friday, July 24th.

Live Oak Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LOB opened at $39.63 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.95 and a beta of 1.86. Live Oak Bancshares has a one year low of $29.36 and a one year high of $44.53. The company’s fifty day moving average is $41.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.31.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.10. Live Oak Bancshares had a net margin of 12.68% and a return on equity of 11.77%. The business had revenue of $156.15 million during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Live Oak Bancshares will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Live Oak Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. Live Oak Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Live Oak Bancshares

In other news, Director David G. Lucht sold 3,000 shares of the 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 directly owned 15,623 shares in the company, valued at $658,196.99. This represents a 16.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Mark Moroz sold 6,100 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 38,264 shares of company stock worth $1,598,741. 22.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Live Oak Bancshares

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LOB. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 4,962.5% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,668,641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,147,000 after acquiring an additional 1,635,680 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in Live Oak Bancshares by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 16,857 shares of the company’s stock worth $688,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in Live Oak Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at about $326,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in Live Oak Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,643,000. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Live Oak Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth about $128,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.