Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL) Short Interest Up 6.0% in January

Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 949,100 shares, an increase of 6.0% from the December 31st total of 895,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 180,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.3 days. Currently, 5.1% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AMAL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Amalgamated Financial from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Amalgamated Financial from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insider Transactions at Amalgamated Financial

In related news, major shareholder States Regional Joint Western sold 175,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.24, for a total value of $6,517,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,558,575 shares in the company, valued at approximately $281,481,333. This represents a 2.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Maryann Bruce sold 4,403 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.77, for a total value of $148,689.31. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $618,632.63. This represents a 19.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 396,865 shares of company stock worth $14,547,758 in the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Amalgamated Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AMAL. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 28.4% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in Amalgamated Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 74.9% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Amalgamated Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P lifted its holdings in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 72,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,286,000 after purchasing an additional 1,450 shares during the last quarter. 75.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amalgamated Financial Price Performance

AMAL stock opened at $34.94 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of 10.13 and a beta of 0.93. 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’s 50 day moving average is $34.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.09. Amalgamated Financial has a 52-week low of $21.33 and a 52-week high of $38.19.

Amalgamated Financial (NASDAQ:AMAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.03. Amalgamated Financial had a net margin of 24.50% and a return on equity of 16.49%. Analysts predict that Amalgamated Financial will post 3.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amalgamated Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. This is an increase from Amalgamated Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. Amalgamated Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.91%.

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.