Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 1,722 Shares of Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,992 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,722 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Amalgamated Financial worth $636,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Amalgamated Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,339,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Amalgamated Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $55,000. Figure 8 Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Amalgamated Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,778,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Amalgamated Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $469,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Amalgamated Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Institutional investors own 75.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder States Regional Joint Western sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.27, for a total transaction of $616,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,167,816 shares in the company, valued at $245,641,054.32. The trade was a 0.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Maryann Bruce sold 4,403 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 18,319 shares in the company, valued at $618,632.63. This represents a 19.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 26,730 shares of company stock valued at $908,522. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Amalgamated Financial Stock Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ:AMAL opened at $29.87 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Amalgamated Financial Corp. has a twelve month low of $21.33 and a twelve month high of $38.19. The company has a market cap of $916.08 million, a PE ratio of 8.66 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s 50 day moving average is $34.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.70.

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

Amalgamated Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This is an increase from Amalgamated Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Amalgamated Financial’s payout ratio is presently 16.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on AMAL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Amalgamated Financial from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler lowered Amalgamated Financial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, February 21st.

Amalgamated Financial Company Profile

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.