Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) Reaches New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Shares of Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $7.96 and last traded at $7.9550, with a volume of 92180 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.77.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Kearny Financial in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Kearny Financial from $7.50 to $9.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $8.00.

Kearny Financial Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $511.70 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.80 and a beta of 0.70. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $7.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.15. Kearny Financial had a net margin of 8.57% and a return on equity of 3.89%. The company had revenue of $42.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.43 million.

Kearny Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 5th. Kearny Financial’s payout ratio is 93.62%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kearny Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fourthstone LLC grew its position in Kearny Financial by 351.4% in the second quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 1,109,666 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $7,168,000 after acquiring an additional 863,816 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Kearny Financial by 373.7% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 918,125 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $5,931,000 after purchasing an additional 724,297 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new position in Kearny Financial in the third quarter valued at about $1,583,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Kearny Financial by 402.0% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 214,681 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,410,000 after buying an additional 171,916 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kearny Financial by 4.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,348,893 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $22,002,000 after buying an additional 133,683 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Kearny Financial

Kearny Financial, Inc was the bank holding company for Kearny Bank, a New Jersey–based community bank offering a full suite of commercial and consumer banking services. Through its subsidiary, the company provided deposit products, lending facilities and electronic banking solutions to individuals, small businesses and middle-market corporations.

The company’s core products included checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial real estate loans, construction financing, equipment financing, home equity lines of credit and consumer installment loans.