Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) Shares Purchased by Benjamin Edwards Inc.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 17,871 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Lancaster Colony were worth $3,094,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its holdings in Lancaster Colony by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 305,264 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,853,000 after buying an additional 52,030 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Lancaster Colony by 89.1% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 105,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,277,000 after acquiring an additional 49,734 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lancaster Colony during the fourth quarter worth $8,558,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Lancaster Colony by 62.7% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 100,162 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,342,000 after purchasing an additional 38,583 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Lancaster Colony by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,200,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,908,000 after purchasing an additional 30,987 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on LANC shares. Benchmark upgraded Lancaster Colony from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stephens decreased their price target on Lancaster Colony from $200.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com cut shares of Lancaster Colony from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Lancaster Colony from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $203.50.

Lancaster Colony Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of LANC stock opened at $161.57 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.40 and a beta of 0.50. Lancaster Colony Co. has a 12-month low of $156.14 and a 12-month high of $202.63. The business’s 50 day moving average is $180.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $181.48.

Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $457.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $483.47 million. Lancaster Colony had a net margin of 8.26% and a return on equity of 19.51%. Lancaster Colony’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Lancaster Colony Co. will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lancaster Colony Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.95 dividend. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Lancaster Colony’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lancaster Colony news, CEO David Alan Ciesinski sold 17,000 shares of Lancaster Colony stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.19, for a total transaction of $3,250,230.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,447,386.36. The trade was a 23.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 29.50% of the stock is currently 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.