Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Has $234,000 Holdings in Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) by 4,728.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,352 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,324 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Lancaster Colony were worth $234,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lancaster Colony during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Lancaster Colony by 56.4% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 280 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Lancaster Colony by 80.4% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 893 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,000 after buying an additional 398 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Lancaster Colony by 62.1% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 932 shares of the company’s stock worth $165,000 after buying an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in Lancaster Colony during the third quarter worth $220,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.44% of the company’s stock.

Lancaster Colony Stock Up 1.4 %

LANC opened at $180.02 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.64 and a beta of 0.31. Lancaster Colony Co. has a twelve month low of $163.20 and a twelve month high of $209.08. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $181.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $180.99.

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

Lancaster Colony Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.95 per share. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Lancaster Colony’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value of $3,250,230.00. Following the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 29.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LANC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Lancaster Colony from $196.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Lancaster Colony from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lancaster Colony from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Lancaster Colony in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $211.33.

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.