Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) Upgraded by Zacks Research to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Live Oak Bancshares from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 24th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Live Oak Bancshares from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Live Oak Bancshares from $51.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on Live Oak Bancshares from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.80.

Live Oak Bancshares Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of LOB stock opened at $41.03 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $39.24 and a 200-day moving average of $37.63. Live Oak Bancshares has a 12-month low of $29.36 and a 12-month high of $43.85. The company has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.72 and a beta of 1.88.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $156.15 million for the quarter. Live Oak Bancshares had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 11.18%. On average, equities analysts expect that Live Oak Bancshares will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Live Oak Bancshares Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William L. Williams III sold 8,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 1,122,526 shares in the company, valued at $46,708,306.86. This trade represents a 0.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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 Live Oak Bancshares stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider directly owned 4,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,512.69. This represents a 94.65% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 91,800 shares of company stock worth $3,523,194 over the last three months. Insiders own 22.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LOB. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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 in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 4.5% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 20,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $549,000 after buying an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 655.6% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 687,885 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,339,000 after buying an additional 596,841 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 15.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 264,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,041,000 after buying an additional 34,849 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position 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.

Live Oak Bancshares Company Profile

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.