Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 1,070 Shares of Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas trimmed its stake in Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 35,794 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,070 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Lancaster Colony were worth $6,197,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Lancaster Colony by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 5,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $970,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Lancaster Colony by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 12,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,219,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of Lancaster Colony by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its stake in shares of Lancaster Colony by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 11,687 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,023,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Lancaster Colony by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $935,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LANC. StockNews.com raised Lancaster Colony from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Lancaster Colony from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Stephens raised their price target on Lancaster Colony from $196.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $211.33.

Lancaster Colony Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of LANC stock opened at $175.33 on Monday. Lancaster Colony Co. has a 12-month low of $163.20 and a 12-month high of $209.08. The company has a market capitalization of $4.83 billion, a PE ratio of 30.81 and a beta of 0.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $182.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $181.39.

Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.28. Lancaster Colony had a return on equity of 19.51% and a net margin of 8.26%. The business had revenue of $509.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $495.43 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.87 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.95 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. Lancaster Colony’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 approximately $10,447,386.36. The trade was a 23.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 29.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.