Bancolombia S.A. (NYSE:CIB) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Bancolombia S.A. (NYSE:CIB) saw a significant increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 295,800 shares, an increase of 10.4% from the August 31st total of 268,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 241,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.2 days. Currently, 0.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bancolombia

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CIB. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Bancolombia in the 2nd quarter valued at $410,000. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Bancolombia during the 2nd quarter worth about $359,000. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Bancolombia by 84.2% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 17,807 shares of the bank’s stock worth $581,000 after purchasing an additional 8,141 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. increased its stake in shares of Bancolombia by 23.7% during the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 23,200 shares of the bank’s stock worth $707,000 after purchasing an additional 4,440 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AXA S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Bancolombia during the 2nd quarter worth about $192,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lowered shares of Bancolombia from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $34.00 in a report on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Bancolombia from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Bancolombia from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $34.00 to $32.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $32.40.

Bancolombia Trading Down 0.4 %

CIB stock traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $31.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 307,372 shares, compared to its average volume of 268,169. Bancolombia has a 52 week low of $24.15 and a 52 week high of $37.85. The stock has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a PE ratio of 4.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.59.

Bancolombia (NYSE:CIB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The bank reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. Bancolombia had a net margin of 13.73% and a return on equity of 15.68%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bancolombia will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

Bancolombia Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a dividend of $0.8456 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $3.38 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.83%. Bancolombia’s dividend payout ratio is 53.14%.

About Bancolombia

Bancolombia SA, together with its subsidiaries, provides banking products and services in Colombia and internationally. The company operates through nine segments: Banking Colombia, Banking Panama, Banking El Salvador, Banking Guatemala, Trust, Investment Banking, Brokerage, International Banking, and All Other.