Banc Funds Co. LLC Sells 101,000 Shares of ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. $CNOB

Banc Funds Co. LLC cut its stake in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNOB) by 29.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 241,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 101,000 shares during the quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC’s holdings in ConnectOne Bancorp were worth $5,984,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 728.4% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,566 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 107.9% during the 2nd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 956 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new stake in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 28.8% in the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 4,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 1,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 791.0% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 4,042 shares in the last quarter. 67.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on CNOB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of ConnectOne Bancorp from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of ConnectOne Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 10th. Hovde Group lowered their price objective on shares of ConnectOne Bancorp from $32.50 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ConnectOne Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.67.

ConnectOne Bancorp Stock Up 0.4%

CNOB stock opened at $25.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.28 billion, a PE ratio of 17.02 and a beta of 1.13. ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.61 and a 1-year high of $29.28. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.96.

ConnectOne Bancorp (NASDAQ:CNOB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.09. ConnectOne Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 11.83%.The business had revenue of $114.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $114.80 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.23 EPS for the current year.

ConnectOne Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th were given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. ConnectOne Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.00%.

ConnectOne Bancorp Profile

ConnectOne Bancorp is a New Jersey‐based bank holding company whose primary subsidiary, ConnectOne Bank, offers a suite of commercial banking services to small and medium‐sized businesses, professionals and individuals. Established in 2005 and headquartered in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, the company seeks to deliver customized lending and deposit solutions through a network of branches across northern New Jersey and the New York metropolitan area.

The company’s lending portfolio centers on commercial real estate financing, construction lending, owner‐occupied real estate loans and working capital lines of credit.