Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) Short Interest Update

Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) saw a significant drop in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 618,200 shares, a drop of 10.5% from the September 15th total of 690,500 shares. Currently, 3.2% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 137,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lancaster Colony

In other news, Director Elliot K. Fullen bought 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $169.00 per share, for a total transaction of $507,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 5,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $895,362. This trade represents a 100.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 29.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lancaster Colony

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LANC. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Lancaster Colony in the fourth quarter valued at $369,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Lancaster Colony by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 32,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,386,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Lancaster Colony by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,100,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $349,503,000 after purchasing an additional 19,427 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in Lancaster Colony in the 4th quarter worth about $173,000. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division bought a new position in Lancaster Colony in the 1st quarter worth about $222,000. Institutional investors own 66.44% of the company’s stock.

Lancaster Colony Price Performance

Lancaster Colony stock opened at $180.47 on Wednesday. Lancaster Colony has a 12 month low of $160.01 and a 12 month high of $215.31. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $180.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $186.65. The company has a market cap of $4.97 billion, a PE ratio of 37.44 and a beta of 0.35.

Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 22nd. The company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $452.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $462.70 million. Lancaster Colony had a net margin of 8.47% and a return on equity of 19.61%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lancaster Colony will post 6.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Lancaster Colony Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Lancaster Colony’s payout ratio is 74.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LANC. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Lancaster Colony from $236.00 to $232.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Lancaster Colony in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lancaster Colony from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Stephens cut their target price on shares of Lancaster Colony from $205.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lancaster Colony has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $195.75.

Lancaster Colony Company Profile

Lancaster Colony Corporation engages in the manufacturing and marketing of specialty food products for the retail and foodservice channels in the United States. It operates in two segments, Retail and Foodservice. The company offers frozen garlic bread under the New York BRAND Bakery; frozen Parkerhouse style yeast and dinner rolls under the Sister Schubert's brand; salad dressings under the Marzetti, Simply Dressed, Cardini's, and Girard's brands; vegetable and fruit dips under the Marzetti brand; croutons and salad toppings under the New York BRAND Bakery, Chatham Village, and Marzetti brands; and frozen pasta under the Marzetti Frozen Pasta brand.