Analysts Set Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) Price Target at $44.80

Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the six research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $44.80.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LOB. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $51.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th.

Live Oak Bancshares Stock Performance

Live Oak Bancshares stock opened at $41.62 on Friday. Live Oak Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $29.36 and a fifty-two week high of $43.85. The company has a market capitalization of $1.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.95 and a beta of 1.88. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $39.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.53.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $145.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.02 million. Live Oak Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.18% and a net margin of 11.79%. On average, analysts forecast that Live Oak Bancshares will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Live Oak Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 2nd were issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Live Oak Bancshares’s payout ratio is 4.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director William L. Williams III sold 8,400 shares of Live Oak Bancshares stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.61, for a total value of $349,524.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 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 transaction, the insider owned 4,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $160,512.69. The trade was a 94.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 91,800 shares of company stock worth $3,523,194. Corporate insiders own 22.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Live Oak Bancshares

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 157.4% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 905 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Live Oak Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth approximately $55,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Live Oak Bancshares by 671.6% in the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in Live Oak Bancshares by 138.9% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC increased its position in Live Oak Bancshares by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.95% of the company’s stock.

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.