Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) Trading Up 9.6% After Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Shares of Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) were up 9.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as high as $42.89 and last traded at $42.76. Approximately 145,891 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 51% from the average daily volume of 298,717 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.00.

The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $161.86 million for the quarter. Live Oak Bancshares had a net margin of 10.09% and a return on equity of 9.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on LOB. TD Cowen raised shares of Live Oak Bancshares to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Live Oak Bancshares in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Live Oak Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Live Oak Bancshares Stock Up 4.7%

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.51. The stock has a market cap of $1.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.40 and a beta of 2.02.

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.