Lancaster Colony (LANC) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. It also manufactures and sells other products to brand license agreements, including Olive Garden dressings, Buffalo Wild Wings sauces, and Chick-fil-A sauces. The company sells its products through sales personnel, food brokers, and distributors to retailers and restaurants. Lancaster Colony Corporation was incorporated in 1961 and is based in Westerville, Ohio.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $177.67 to $179.69
• 50-Day Range: $172.00 to $200.28
• 52-Week Range: $161.54 to $215.31
• Volume: 147,258 shs
• Average Volume: 131,142 shs
• Market Capitalization: $4.95 billion
• P/E Ratio: 31.06
• Dividend Yield: 2.12%
• Price Target: $193.50
• Consensus Rating: Hold

Lancaster Colony Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Lancaster Colony scored higher than 93% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 12th out of 138 stocks in the consumer staples sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 1.1 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Hold

Consensus Rating

Lancaster Colony has received a consensus rating of Hold. The company's average rating score is 2.20, and is based on 1 buy rating, 4 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Lancaster Colony has only been the subject of 3 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 7.89%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Lancaster Colony are expected to grow by 7.89% in the coming year, from $6.72 to $7.25 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Lancaster Colony is 31.06, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 131.22.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Lancaster Colony is 31.06, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Consumer Staples sector average P/E ratio of about 23.97.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Lancaster Colony has a P/B Ratio of 5.34. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 5.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

2.49% of the float of Lancaster Colony has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Lancaster Colony has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 3.3, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Lancaster Colony has recently decreased by 23.36%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 4.2 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

Lancaster Colony pays a meaningful dividend of 1.99%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Lancaster Colony has been increasing its dividend for 62 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Lancaster Colony is 62.28%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Lancaster Colony will have a dividend payout ratio of 49.66% next year. This indicates that Lancaster Colony will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 3.2 / 5
• Environmental Score: -1.89

Percentage of Shares Shorted

2.49% of the float of Lancaster Colony has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Lancaster Colony has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 3.3, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Lancaster Colony has recently decreased by 23.36%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.48

News Sentiment

Lancaster Colony has a news sentiment score of 0.48. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a lower news sentiment than the 0.64 average news sentiment score of Consumer Staples companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 15 news articles for Lancaster Colony this week, compared to 5 articles on an average week.

Company Ownership

• Score: 5.0 / 5
• Insider Trading: Acquiring Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Lancaster Colony insiders have bought more of their company's stock than they have sold. Specifically, they have bought $507,000.00 in company stock and sold $0.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

29.50% of the stock of Lancaster Colony is held by insiders. A high percentage of insider ownership can be a sign of company health.

Percentage Held by Institutions

66.44% of the stock of Lancaster Colony is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

LANC Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have LANC shares performed this year?

Lancaster Colony's stock was trading at $166.39 at the start of the year. Since then, LANC shares have increased by 7.9% and is now trading at $179.50.
View the best growth stocks for 2024 here.

How were Lancaster Colony's earnings last quarter?

Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) posted its earnings results on Thursday, October, 31st. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.08. The business's revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

Who are Lancaster Colony's major shareholders?

Top institutional investors of Lancaster Colony include State Street Corp (3.73%), Geode Capital Management LLC (2.02%), Champlain Investment Partners LLC (1.97%) and Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. (1.71%). Insiders that own company stock include David Alan Ciesinski, David S Nagle, K Pigott Thomas, Elliot K Fullen, Kristin Bird, George F Knight III and Alan F Harris.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Lancaster Colony?

Shares of LANC stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.
Compare Top Brokerages Here.

What other stocks do shareholders of Lancaster Colony own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Lancaster Colony investors own include NVIDIA (NVDA), Meta Platforms (META), Broadcom (AVGO), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Netflix (NFLX) and Adobe (ADBE).

Company Calendar

• Ex-Dividend for 9/30 Dividend: 9/09/2024
• Dividend Payable: 9/30/2024
• Last Earnings: 10/31/2024
• Today: 11/20/2024
• Ex-Dividend for 12/31 Dividend: 12/05/2024
• Dividend Payable: 12/31/2024
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 2/06/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 6/30/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Consumer Staples
• Industry: Canned, frozen, & preserved fruits, vegetables, & food special
• Sub-Industry: Packaged Foods & Meats
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:LANC
• CUSIP: 51384710
• CIK: 57515
• Web: www.lancastercolony.com
• Phone: (614) 224-7141
• Fax: 614-469-8219
• Employees: 3,400
• Year Founded: 1961

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $193.50
• High Stock Price Target: $227.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $166.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +7.8%
• Consensus Rating: Hold
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.20
• Research Coverage: 5 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $5.78
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 31.06
• Forward P/E Ratio: 26.71
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $158.61 million
• Net Margins: 8.49%
• Pretax Margin: 10.96%
• Return on Equity: 19.01%
• Return on Assets: 14.80%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: N/A
• Current Ratio: 2.61
• Quick Ratio: 1.50

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $1.87 billion
• Price / Sales: 2.64
• Cash Flow: $8.38 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 21.43
• Book Value: $33.63 per share
• Price / Book: 5.34

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 27,570,000
• Free Float: 19,433,000
• Market Cap: $4.95 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.35