Summit Financial LLC Takes $246,000 Position in Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC)

Summit Financial LLC acquired a new position in Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $246,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lancaster Colony by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,200,002 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,908,000 after purchasing an additional 30,987 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Lancaster Colony by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 556,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,227,000 after buying an additional 14,864 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its stake in Lancaster Colony by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 305,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,853,000 after acquiring an additional 52,030 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lancaster Colony by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 285,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,518,000 after acquiring an additional 5,168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Lancaster Colony by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 213,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,027,000 after acquiring an additional 9,861 shares during the period. 66.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Lancaster Colony Trading Up 2.7 %

LANC opened at $179.80 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $183.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $181.22. The company has a market capitalization of $4.96 billion, a PE ratio of 31.60 and a beta of 0.31. Lancaster Colony Co. has a 1-year low of $163.20 and a 1-year high of $206.05.

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

Lancaster Colony Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $0.95 dividend. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Lancaster Colony’s dividend payout ratio is 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 value of $3,250,230.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 29.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.