Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the four analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $198.75.

Separately, Stephens lowered Lancaster Colony from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $218.00 in a research report on Friday, February 2nd.

Lancaster Colony Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of Lancaster Colony stock opened at $194.81 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $5.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.63 and a beta of 0.35. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $200.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $180.64. Lancaster Colony has a twelve month low of $158.88 and a twelve month high of $220.65.

Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $485.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $489.00 million. Lancaster Colony had a return on equity of 17.37% and a net margin of 6.92%. On average, equities analysts expect that Lancaster Colony will post 6.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lancaster Colony Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. Lancaster Colony’s payout ratio is currently 76.92%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lancaster Colony news, insider Kristin Bird sold 1,207 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.66, for a total value of $232,540.62. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $683,172.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 29.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lancaster Colony

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lancaster Colony by 6.1% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,559,086 shares of the company’s stock valued at $519,187,000 after acquiring an additional 147,890 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Lancaster Colony by 20.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,443,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $367,271,000 after acquiring an additional 410,104 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lancaster Colony by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,100,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $349,503,000 after acquiring an additional 19,427 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lancaster Colony by 12.5% during the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,307,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $215,795,000 after acquiring an additional 145,560 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Lancaster Colony by 10.5% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 596,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,411,000 after buying an additional 56,787 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.44% of the company’s stock.

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.