Short Interest in Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL) Grows By 5.3%

Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 881,100 shares, an increase of 5.3% from the March 15th total of 837,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 154,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.7 days. Approximately 5.0% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Amalgamated Financial Price Performance

Amalgamated Financial stock traded down $0.16 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $21.62. 19,378 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 148,166. The company has a market cap of $659.41 million, a P/E ratio of 7.62 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Amalgamated Financial has a twelve month low of $14.05 and a twelve month high of $27.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $23.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.59.

Amalgamated Financial (NASDAQ:AMAL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $105.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $71.59 million. Amalgamated Financial had a return on equity of 16.60% and a net margin of 22.71%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Amalgamated Financial will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amalgamated Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 6th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 5th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. Amalgamated Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Amalgamated Financial from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Amalgamated Financial from $33.00 to $29.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its holdings in Amalgamated Financial by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 2,182,279 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,579,000 after buying an additional 59,337 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its holdings in Amalgamated Financial by 26.5% during the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 317,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,461,000 after purchasing an additional 66,420 shares during the last quarter. Clean Yield Group raised its holdings in Amalgamated Financial by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 145,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,919,000 after purchasing an additional 4,960 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Amalgamated Financial by 30.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 129,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,479,000 after purchasing an additional 30,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Amalgamated Financial by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 862,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,859,000 after purchasing an additional 32,733 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.93% of the company’s stock.

About Amalgamated Financial

Amalgamated Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Amalgamated Bank that provides commercial and retail banking, investment management, and trust and custody services for commercial and retail customers in the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, including non-interest bearing accounts, interest-bearing demand products, savings accounts, money market accounts, NOW accounts, and certificates of deposit.