Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) Short Interest Update

Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 618,200 shares, a decrease of 10.5% from the September 15th total of 690,500 shares. Approximately 3.2% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 137,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.5 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LANC. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Lancaster Colony in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of Lancaster Colony from $205.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lancaster Colony from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Lancaster Colony from $236.00 to $232.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $195.75.

Insider Activity at Lancaster Colony

In other news, Director Elliot K. Fullen acquired 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $169.00 per share, for a total transaction of $507,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,298 shares in the company, valued at approximately $895,362. This represents a 100.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 29.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lancaster Colony

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Lancaster Colony by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,186,162 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,913,000 after purchasing an additional 85,658 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Lancaster Colony by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 520,335 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,326,000 after purchasing an additional 25,072 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Lancaster Colony by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 306,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,840,000 after purchasing an additional 15,962 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Lancaster Colony by 1.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 4,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in Lancaster Colony by 2,386.6% in the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 172,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,517,000 after purchasing an additional 165,155 shares during the last quarter. 66.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lancaster Colony Price Performance

Lancaster Colony stock opened at $180.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $180.66 and a 200-day moving average of $186.65. Lancaster Colony has a one year low of $160.01 and a one year high of $215.31. The company has a market cap of $4.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.44 and a beta of 0.35.

Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 22nd. The company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.06). Lancaster Colony had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 8.47%. The business had revenue of $452.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $462.70 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lancaster Colony will post 6.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Lancaster Colony Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. Lancaster Colony’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.69%.

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.