Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.08 EPS

Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) released its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.70 by ($0.08), Briefing.com reports. Lancaster Colony had a net margin of 8.47% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The firm had revenue of $466.56 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $468.36 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.70 earnings per share. Lancaster Colony’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

Lancaster Colony Stock Performance

Shares of LANC stock traded up $6.87 on Friday, hitting $180.47. The company had a trading volume of 277,923 shares, compared to its average volume of 130,296. Lancaster Colony has a twelve month low of $161.54 and a twelve month high of $215.31. The firm has a market cap of $4.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.39 and a beta of 0.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $177.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.81.

Lancaster Colony Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Lancaster Colony’s payout ratio is presently 62.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LANC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Lancaster Colony from $232.00 to $227.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Stephens dropped their price objective on Lancaster Colony from $200.00 to $196.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com cut Lancaster Colony from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Lancaster Colony in a report on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lancaster Colony has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $193.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Elliot K. Fullen purchased 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $169.00 per share, for a total transaction of $507,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 5,298 shares in the company, valued at $895,362. This trade represents a 100.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 29.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.