Farringdon Capital Ltd. Purchases Shares of 1,367 Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC)

Farringdon Capital Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new position in Lancaster Colony during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Lancaster Colony by 1,078.9% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 448 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Lancaster Colony by 48.4% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 724 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Lancaster Colony by 80.4% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 893 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,000 after acquiring an additional 398 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Lancaster Colony news, CEO David Alan Ciesinski sold 17,000 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 54,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,447,386.36. This trade represents a 23.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 29.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LANC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Lancaster Colony from $196.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. 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 report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Lancaster Colony from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lancaster Colony has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $211.33.

Lancaster Colony Stock Up 3.2 %

Lancaster Colony stock opened at $189.03 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.21 billion, a PE ratio of 33.22 and a beta of 0.38. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $183.92 and its 200 day moving average is $181.48. Lancaster Colony Co. has a 12-month low of $163.20 and a 12-month high of $202.63.

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

Lancaster Colony Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.95 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. Lancaster Colony’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.78%.

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.