DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main Buys Shares of 3,448 Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC)

DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main purchased a new position in shares of Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 3,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $597,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its position in Lancaster Colony by 179.9% during the 4th quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 24,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,306,000 after acquiring an additional 15,984 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Lancaster Colony by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,323 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lancaster Colony by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 17,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,094,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lancaster Colony by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 21,905 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,793,000 after purchasing an additional 2,581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC increased its stake in shares of Lancaster Colony by 20.2% in the fourth quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 10,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,799,000 after buying an additional 1,749 shares during the period. 66.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David Alan Ciesinski sold 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.19, for a total transaction of $3,250,230.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,447,386.36. This represents a 23.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 29.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on LANC shares. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Lancaster Colony from $200.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Lancaster Colony from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Lancaster Colony from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Lancaster Colony from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lancaster Colony has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $203.50.

Lancaster Colony Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LANC opened at $166.60 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $179.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $181.29. Lancaster Colony Co. has a 52-week low of $156.14 and a 52-week high of $202.63. The company has a market capitalization of $4.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.28 and a beta of 0.50.

Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.61 by ($0.07). Lancaster Colony had a net margin of 8.26% and a return on equity of 19.51%. The firm had revenue of $457.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $483.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. Lancaster Colony’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Lancaster Colony Co. will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Lancaster Colony Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.95 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. Lancaster Colony’s payout ratio 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.