London Co. of Virginia Acquires 12,500 Shares of Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC)

London Co. of Virginia grew its holdings in Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 450,493 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,500 shares during the quarter. London Co. of Virginia’s holdings in Lancaster Colony were worth $77,998,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lancaster Colony by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,200,002 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,908,000 after buying an additional 30,987 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lancaster Colony by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 561,913 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,308,000 after buying an additional 5,690 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Lancaster Colony by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 510,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,383,000 after buying an additional 1,496 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 52,030 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Lancaster Colony by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 290,133 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,234,000 after buying an additional 28,965 shares in the last quarter. 66.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Lancaster Colony from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Benchmark upgraded Lancaster Colony from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stephens decreased their price objective on Lancaster Colony from $200.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $203.50.

Insider Transactions at Lancaster Colony

In related news, CEO David Alan Ciesinski sold 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.19, for a total value of $3,250,230.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,644 shares in the company, valued at $10,447,386.36. The trade was a 23.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 29.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lancaster Colony Stock Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:LANC opened at $166.60 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.28 and a beta of 0.50. Lancaster Colony Co. has a twelve month low of $156.14 and a twelve month high of $202.63. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $179.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $181.29.

Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.61 by ($0.07). Lancaster Colony had a return on equity of 19.51% and a net margin of 8.26%. The business had revenue of $457.84 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $483.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 61.79%.

About Lancaster Colony

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.