Farther Finance Advisors LLC Purchases 410 Shares of Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) by 1,078.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 448 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 410 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lancaster Colony were worth $78,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Lancaster Colony by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 4,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $785,000 after acquiring an additional 873 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Lancaster Colony during the fourth quarter valued at $318,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in Lancaster Colony by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 4,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $836,000 after buying an additional 549 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC lifted its position in Lancaster Colony by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC now owns 77,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,396,000 after buying an additional 353 shares during the period. Finally, Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. lifted its position in Lancaster Colony by 41.5% during the fourth quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 2,024 shares of the company’s stock valued at $350,000 after buying an additional 594 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LANC has been the subject of several recent research reports. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Lancaster Colony from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com raised Lancaster Colony from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Stephens upped 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 note on Wednesday, February 5th. 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 price target of $211.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lancaster Colony

In other news, CEO David Alan Ciesinski sold 17,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.19, for a total transaction of $3,250,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,644 shares in the company, valued at $10,447,386.36. This trade 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 the SEC website. Insiders own 29.50% of the company’s stock.

Lancaster Colony Price Performance

NASDAQ LANC opened at $175.33 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $182.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $181.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.81 and a beta of 0.31. Lancaster Colony Co. has a 1-year low of $163.20 and a 1-year high of $209.08.

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 research analysts anticipate that Lancaster Colony Co. will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

Lancaster Colony Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.95 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.17%. Lancaster Colony’s dividend payout ratio 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.