Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analyst consensus: Six analysts give Live Oak an average rating of "Hold" (four Hold, two Buy) with a 12‑month average target of $44.40.
• Earnings & valuation: The latest quarter beat EPS estimates ($0.60 vs. $0.54) while revenue was slightly below expectations; the stock trades near $37.11, has a market cap of $1.70B and a P/E of 14.22 (52‑week range $25.53–$42.89).
• Dividends and insider activity: Live Oak pays a small quarterly dividend ($0.03, ~0.3% yield) and recently saw insider selling by the general counsel and CFO, while institutions hold about 64% of shares.

Shares of Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Hold" from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four research 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 brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $44.40.

LOB has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Live Oak Bancshares from $51.00 to $47.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Live Oak Bancshares from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Live Oak Bancshares from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Live Oak Bancshares from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Live Oak Bancshares from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th.

Live Oak Bancshares Stock Performance

LOB opened at $37.11 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $35.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.30. Live Oak Bancshares has a twelve month low of $25.53 and a twelve month high of $42.89. The firm has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.22 and a beta of 1.92.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.06. Live Oak Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.36% and a net margin of 11.79%.The firm had revenue of $145.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $146.02 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Live Oak Bancshares will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Live Oak Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Live Oak Bancshares's payout ratio is 4.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Gregory W. Seward sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.70, for a total transaction of $110,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 113,797 shares in the company, valued at $4,176,349.90. The trade was a 2.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Walter J. Phifer sold 4,712 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.58, for a total value of $172,364.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 10,103 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $369,567.74. This trade represents a 31.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 22.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,702,627 shares of the company's stock worth $92,835,000 after buying an additional 17,181 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 0.3% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,545,210 shares of the company's stock worth $54,424,000 after buying an additional 5,046 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,308,462 shares of the company's stock worth $44,946,000 after buying an additional 63,325 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,261,000. Finally, Southernsun Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Southernsun Asset Management LLC now owns 1,029,108 shares of the company's stock worth $35,350,000 after buying an additional 134,798 shares during the last quarter. 63.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.