Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor Acquires Shares of 179,294 Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. $LOB

Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor acquired a new stake in shares of Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 179,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,322,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new stake in Live Oak Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth $4,506,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in Live Oak Bancshares in the second quarter worth about $1,171,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Live Oak Bancshares during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,005,000. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC bought a new position in Live Oak Bancshares during the second quarter valued at $1,632,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William L. Williams III sold 8,400 shares of Live Oak Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.08, for a total transaction of $361,872.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,114,126 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,996,548.08. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Mark Michael Moroz sold 6,100 shares of Live Oak Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.08, for a total transaction of $256,688.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 12,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $509,588.80. The trade was a 33.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 36,454 shares of company stock worth $1,526,341 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 22.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Live Oak Bancshares from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings raised Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Live Oak Bancshares from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Zacks Research upgraded Live Oak Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Live Oak Bancshares from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.20.

Live Oak Bancshares Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:LOB opened at $43.23 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.22 and a beta of 1.87. Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $29.36 and a 52 week high of $44.53. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $41.30 and a 200 day moving average of $38.33.

Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.10. Live Oak Bancshares had a net margin of 12.68% and a return on equity of 11.77%. The business had revenue of $156.15 million during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.07 EPS for the current year.

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.