Rhumbline Advisers Purchases 665 Shares of Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC)

Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in shares of Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 60,460 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 665 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in Lancaster Colony were worth $10,468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lancaster Colony during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Lancaster Colony by 56.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Lancaster Colony by 80.4% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 893 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,000 after purchasing an additional 398 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lancaster Colony by 62.1% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 932 shares of the company’s stock worth $165,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Olympiad Research LP bought a new position in shares of Lancaster Colony during the third quarter valued at $210,000. 66.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Stephens lifted their price objective on Lancaster Colony from $196.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lancaster Colony from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Lancaster Colony in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Lancaster Colony from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of Lancaster Colony from $232.00 to $227.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Three investment 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $211.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lancaster Colony

In related news, CEO David Alan Ciesinski sold 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,447,386.36. This represents a 23.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 29.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lancaster Colony Stock Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ LANC opened at $194.81 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $178.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $180.99. Lancaster Colony Co. has a 52 week low of $163.20 and a 52 week high of $209.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.24 and a beta of 0.35.

Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $509.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $495.43 million. Lancaster Colony had a net margin of 8.26% and a return on equity of 19.51%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.87 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lancaster Colony Co. will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

Lancaster Colony Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.95 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. Lancaster Colony’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.78%.

Lancaster Colony 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.