Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) saw a large drop in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 478,600 shares, a drop of 23.4% from the October 15th total of 624,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 145,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days. Currently, 2.5% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lancaster Colony

In other Lancaster Colony news, Director Elliot K. Fullen purchased 3,000 shares of Lancaster Colony stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $169.00 per share, with a total value of $507,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 5,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $895,362. This represents a 130.55 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 29.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lancaster Colony

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lancaster Colony by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,186,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,913,000 after buying an additional 85,658 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lancaster Colony by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 556,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,227,000 after acquiring an additional 14,864 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Lancaster Colony by 5.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 520,335 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,326,000 after purchasing an additional 25,072 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in Lancaster Colony by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 306,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,840,000 after acquiring an additional 15,962 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Lancaster Colony by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 241,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,664,000 after buying an additional 4,327 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on LANC shares. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Lancaster Colony in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Stephens decreased their price objective on shares of Lancaster Colony from $200.00 to $196.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Loop Capital cut their price target on Lancaster Colony from $232.00 to $227.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Lancaster Colony from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $193.50.

Lancaster Colony Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LANC traded down $3.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $180.75. 121,205 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 158,642. Lancaster Colony has a one year low of $161.54 and a one year high of $215.31. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $184.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.98 billion, a PE ratio of 31.27 and a beta of 0.35.

Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $466.56 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $468.36 million. Lancaster Colony had a return on equity of 19.01% and a net margin of 8.49%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.70 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lancaster Colony will post 6.72 EPS for the current year.

Lancaster Colony Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a $0.95 dividend. This is a boost from Lancaster Colony’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. Lancaster Colony’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.28%.

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.