Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Has $40.16 Million Holdings in Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 231,927 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,411 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC owned approximately 0.84% of Lancaster Colony worth $40,156,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LANC. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in Lancaster Colony by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 5,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $970,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Lancaster Colony by 0.5% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 12,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,219,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Lancaster Colony by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its holdings in Lancaster Colony by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 11,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,023,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in Lancaster Colony by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $935,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 66.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on LANC shares. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Lancaster Colony from $196.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lancaster Colony from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Lancaster Colony from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $211.33.

Lancaster Colony Price Performance

Lancaster Colony stock opened at $179.80 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.60 and a beta of 0.31. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $183.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $181.22. Lancaster Colony Co. has a fifty-two week low of $163.20 and a fifty-two week high of $206.05.

Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.28. Lancaster Colony had a net margin of 8.26% and a return on equity of 19.51%. The company had revenue of $509.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $495.43 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.87 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Lancaster Colony Co. will post 6.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lancaster Colony Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $0.95 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. Lancaster Colony’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David Alan Ciesinski sold 17,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,447,386.36. This represents a 23.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 29.50% of the company’s stock.

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.