14,722 Shares in Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. $LOB Acquired by Equitable Trust Co.

Equitable Trust Co. bought a new stake in Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 14,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $487,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LOB. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Live Oak Bancshares by 157.4% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 905 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Live Oak Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth $55,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Live Oak Bancshares by 671.6% in the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 1,847 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in Live Oak Bancshares by 138.9% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 1,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its holdings in Live Oak Bancshares by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,000 after acquiring an additional 642 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LOB has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Live Oak Bancshares from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research raised Live Oak Bancshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Weiss Ratings raised Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Piper Sandler raised their price objective 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, TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $51.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Live Oak Bancshares

In related news, insider Renato Derraik sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.83, for a total transaction of $2,837,250.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,243 shares in the company, valued at $160,512.69. This trade represents a 94.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director William L. Williams III sold 8,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.61, for a total transaction of $349,524.00. Following the sale, the director owned 1,122,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,708,306.86. The trade was a 0.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 91,800 shares of company stock worth $3,523,194 over the last 90 days. 22.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Live Oak Bancshares Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of Live Oak Bancshares stock traded up $0.32 on Friday, hitting $41.64. 200,215 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 309,711. Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $29.36 and a 52-week high of $42.89. The stock has a market cap of $1.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.95 and a beta of 1.88. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $38.48 and its 200 day moving average is $37.24.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $145.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $146.02 million. Live Oak Bancshares had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 11.18%. Equities research analysts forecast that Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Live Oak Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 2nd. Live Oak Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4.60%.

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.