Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Buys Shares of 4,786 Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 4,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $829,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its holdings in Lancaster Colony by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 305,264 shares of the company's stock worth $52,853,000 after purchasing an additional 52,030 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lancaster Colony by 89.1% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 105,560 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,277,000 after buying an additional 49,734 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Lancaster Colony during the fourth quarter valued at about $8,558,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Lancaster Colony by 62.7% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 100,162 shares of the company's stock worth $17,342,000 after acquiring an additional 38,583 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Lancaster Colony by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,200,002 shares of the company's stock worth $380,908,000 after acquiring an additional 30,987 shares in the last quarter. 66.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LANC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of Lancaster Colony from $200.00 to $195.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Lancaster Colony from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Lancaster Colony from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Benchmark upgraded Lancaster Colony from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $185.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lancaster Colony has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $203.50.

Lancaster Colony Price Performance

Lancaster Colony stock traded down $2.12 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $167.37. The stock had a trading volume of 91,010 shares, compared to its average volume of 146,847. Lancaster Colony Co. has a twelve month low of $156.14 and a twelve month high of $202.63. The firm has a market cap of $4.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.41 and a beta of 0.50. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $176.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $180.87.

Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.61 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $457.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $483.47 million. Lancaster Colony had a net margin of 8.26% and a return on equity of 19.51%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lancaster Colony Co. will post 6.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lancaster Colony Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a $0.95 dividend. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Lancaster Colony's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.79%.

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.