William Williams III Sells 6,590 Shares of Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) Stock

Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) Director William Williams III sold 6,590 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.09, for a total value of $264,193.10. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,105,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,328,555.34. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Live Oak Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LOB opened at $38.91 on Thursday. Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $29.36 and a fifty-two week high of $44.53. The company has a market cap of $1.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.70 and a beta of 1.86. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $41.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.27.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 11.77% and a net margin of 12.68%.The company had revenue of $156.15 million during the quarter. Sell-side analysts predict that Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Live Oak Bancshares Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LOB has been the topic of several research reports. TD Cowen raised their price target on Live Oak Bancshares from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings raised Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Live Oak Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Live Oak Bancshares presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.40.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LOB. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 4,146 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 20,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $549,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 655.6% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 687,885 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,339,000 after purchasing an additional 596,841 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Live Oak Bancshares by 15.2% during the first 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 purchased a new stake in Live Oak Bancshares during the first quarter worth $1,758,000. 63.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.