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

Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOB) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the four analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $47.25.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $38.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $47.00 target price (up previously from $40.00) on shares of Live Oak Bancshares in a research report on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Live Oak Bancshares from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $36.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th.

Insider Activity at Live Oak Bancshares

In other Live Oak Bancshares news, CAO John W. Sutherland sold 20,000 shares of Live Oak Bancshares stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.00, for a total value of $860,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,603 shares in the company, valued at $1,143,929. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 23.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,536,094 shares of the bank’s stock worth $105,273,000 after purchasing an additional 27,086 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 1,560,218 shares of the bank’s stock worth $54,701,000 after acquiring an additional 15,496 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Live Oak Bancshares by 3.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,402,516 shares of the bank’s stock worth $49,169,000 after purchasing an additional 48,018 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors acquired a new stake in Live Oak Bancshares in the first quarter valued at about $18,628,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Live Oak Bancshares by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 259,231 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $11,795,000 after purchasing an additional 2,979 shares during the period. 63.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Live Oak Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ:LOB opened at $42.84 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $39.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.82. Live Oak Bancshares has a 1-year low of $26.11 and a 1-year high of $47.22. The firm has a market cap of $1.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.53 and a beta of 1.62.

Live Oak Bancshares (NASDAQ:LOB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.13. Live Oak Bancshares had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 11.13%. The business had revenue of $232.61 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $123.08 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Live Oak Bancshares will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Live Oak Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.28%. Live Oak Bancshares’s payout ratio is 6.03%.

About Live Oak Bancshares

Live Oak Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Live Oak Banking Company that provides various banking products and services in the United States. It operates through two segments, Banking and Fintech. The company accepts various deposit products, including noninterest-bearing demand, as well as interest-bearing checking, money market, savings, and time deposits.