Short Interest in Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL) Drops By 21.1%

Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 732,300 shares, a drop of 21.1% from the October 15th total of 927,600 shares. Approximately 4.0% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 158,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.6 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder United Canada Council Workers sold 44,577 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.97, for a total value of $1,335,972.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 384,980 shares in the company, valued at $11,537,850.60. This represents a 10.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Jason Darby sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.59, for a total transaction of $146,360.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,837,110.72. The trade was a 7.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 625,919 shares of company stock valued at $21,688,307. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 679.7% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,380 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,203 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its position in Amalgamated Financial by 28.4% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Amalgamated Financial during the first quarter worth $126,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in Amalgamated Financial by 12.3% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 4,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,000 after acquiring an additional 528 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amalgamated Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $213,000. 75.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price target (up previously from $30.00) on shares of Amalgamated Financial in a research note on Monday, July 29th.

Amalgamated Financial Price Performance

Shares of AMAL opened at $35.56 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $32.88 and a 200-day moving average of $29.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.46 and a beta of 0.91. Amalgamated Financial has a twelve month low of $20.39 and a twelve month high of $38.19.

Amalgamated Financial (NASDAQ:AMAL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.08. Amalgamated Financial had a net margin of 24.19% and a return on equity of 16.00%. The business had revenue of $111.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Amalgamated Financial will post 3.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amalgamated Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 5th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. Amalgamated Financial’s payout ratio is presently 14.12%.

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.