Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Purchases 9,411 Shares of Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 231,927 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 9,411 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Lancaster Colony were worth $40,156,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Lancaster Colony by 1.4% during 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 lifted its position in Lancaster Colony by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 561,913 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,308,000 after buying an additional 5,690 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in shares of Lancaster Colony by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 305,264 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,853,000 after buying an additional 52,030 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lancaster Colony by 1.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position 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 valued at $37,027,000 after acquiring an additional 9,861 shares during the last quarter. 66.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LANC has been the subject of several recent research reports. DA Davidson increased their price target 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 report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Stephens boosted 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. 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $211.33.

Lancaster Colony Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ LANC opened at $179.80 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $183.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $181.22. The company has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a PE ratio of 31.60 and a beta of 0.31. Lancaster Colony Co. has a twelve month low of $163.20 and a twelve month high of $206.05.

Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $509.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $495.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.87 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.95 per share. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Lancaster Colony’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.78%.

Insider Activity at Lancaster Colony

In other Lancaster Colony news, CEO David Alan Ciesinski sold 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 54,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,447,386.36. The trade was a 23.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 29.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.