Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Acquires 5,168 Shares of Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 285,999 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,168 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 1.04% of Lancaster Colony worth $49,518,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lancaster Colony during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Lancaster Colony by 56.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Lancaster Colony by 80.4% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 893 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,000 after buying an additional 398 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lancaster Colony by 62.1% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 932 shares of the company’s stock valued at $165,000 after buying an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Lancaster Colony during the 3rd quarter valued at about $220,000. 66.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stephens lifted their price objective on Lancaster Colony from $196.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Lancaster Colony from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Lancaster Colony in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Lancaster Colony from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $211.33.

Lancaster Colony Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of Lancaster Colony stock opened at $177.53 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.20 and a beta of 0.31. Lancaster Colony Co. has a 12 month low of $163.20 and a 12 month high of $209.08. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $181.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $180.93.

Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $495.43 million. Lancaster Colony had a return on equity of 19.51% and a net margin of 8.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.87 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Lancaster Colony Co. will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Lancaster Colony Dividend Announcement

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 dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Lancaster Colony’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David Alan Ciesinski sold 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.19, for a total value of $3,250,230.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,644 shares in the company, valued at $10,447,386.36. The trade was a 23.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 29.50% of the company’s stock.

Lancaster Colony 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.