Lancaster Colony Corporation (NASDAQ:LANC) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

Lancaster Colony Corporation (NASDAQ:LANC) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the seven brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $148.00.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on LANC. Zacks Investment Research lowered Lancaster Colony Corporation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 12th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Lancaster Colony Corporation in a report on Monday, April 24th. Vertical Group raised Lancaster Colony Corporation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $123.00 to $146.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 30th. Finally, Vertical Research upgraded Lancaster Colony Corporation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 26th.

Lancaster Colony Corporation (NASDAQ:LANC) traded up 0.77% during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $125.73. The stock had a trading volume of 96,492 shares. The stock has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a PE ratio of 29.38 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $124.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $129.05. Lancaster Colony Corporation has a 1-year low of $117.50 and a 1-year high of $149.30.

Lancaster Colony Corporation (NASDAQ:LANC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $293.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $286.37 million. Lancaster Colony Corporation had a net margin of 9.82% and a return on equity of 23.80%. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.06 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Lancaster Colony Corporation will post $4.70 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 8th were paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 6th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. Lancaster Colony Corporation’s payout ratio is 51.28%.

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LANC. Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new position in Lancaster Colony Corporation during the first quarter valued at approximately $129,000. Harfst & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Lancaster Colony Corporation during the first quarter valued at approximately $174,000. LS Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Lancaster Colony Corporation by 19.8% in the second quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $191,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Credit Agricole S A increased its position in Lancaster Colony Corporation by 4.5% in the first quarter. Credit Agricole S A now owns 1,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cypress Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Lancaster Colony Corporation by 3.4% in the first quarter. Cypress Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,622 shares of the company’s stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.59% of the company’s stock.

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Lancaster Colony Corporation Company Profile

Lancaster Colony Corporation is a manufacturer and marketer of specialty food products for the retail and foodservice channels. The Company’s food products include Salad dressings and sauces, Vegetable dips and fruit dips, Frozen garlic breads, Frozen Parkerhouse style yeast rolls and dinner rolls, Premium dry egg noodles, Frozen specialty noodles, Croutons and salad toppings, Flatbread wraps and pizza crusts, and Caviar.