Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) Shares Purchased by Wells Fargo & Company MN

Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC - Free Report) by 22.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,719 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 3,675 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned approximately 0.07% of Lancaster Colony worth $3,414,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LANC. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Lancaster Colony by 125.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 44,189 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,803,000 after buying an additional 24,589 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lancaster Colony in the 3rd quarter valued at $272,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Lancaster Colony by 35.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 3,480 shares of the company's stock valued at $649,000 after buying an additional 912 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Lancaster Colony by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 61,579 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,873,000 after buying an additional 1,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Lancaster Colony by 56.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 280 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. 66.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lancaster Colony Stock Performance

Lancaster Colony stock traded down $0.50 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $189.71. 183,498 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 139,000. Lancaster Colony Co. has a 12-month low of $163.20 and a 12-month high of $202.63. The stock has a market cap of $5.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.34 and a beta of 0.38. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $183.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $182.00.

Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $509.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $495.43 million. Lancaster Colony had a net margin of 8.26% and a return on equity of 19.51%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.87 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lancaster Colony Co. will post 6.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lancaster Colony Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $0.95 dividend. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Lancaster Colony's payout ratio is 66.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO David Alan Ciesinski sold 17,000 shares of Lancaster Colony stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.19, for a total value of $3,250,230.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,644 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,447,386.36. The trade was a 23.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 29.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on LANC. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Lancaster Colony from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lancaster Colony from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Lancaster Colony from $196.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lancaster Colony has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $211.33.

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.