Genesis Financial Group LLC Makes New Investment in ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. $CNOB

Genesis Financial Group LLC bought a new position in ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNOB) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 20,392 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $535,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 728.4% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,566 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new stake in ConnectOne Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth about $48,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in ConnectOne Bancorp by 791.0% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in ConnectOne Bancorp by 707.0% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $149,000 after buying an additional 5,642 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ground Swell Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $224,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNOB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Hovde Group reduced their target price on ConnectOne Bancorp from $32.50 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 30th. Piper Sandler began coverage on ConnectOne Bancorp in a report on Monday, March 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $31.00 price target on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on 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 ConnectOne Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ConnectOne Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, ConnectOne Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.67.

ConnectOne Bancorp Price Performance

ConnectOne Bancorp stock opened at $27.03 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.05. ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.61 and a 12 month high of $29.28. The company has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.02 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

ConnectOne Bancorp (NASDAQ:CNOB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $114.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $114.80 million. ConnectOne Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 11.83%. Sell-side analysts forecast that ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.23 EPS for the current year.

ConnectOne Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. ConnectOne Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 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.