Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

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

Amalgamated Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMAL traded down $0.76 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $35.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 81,921 shares, compared to its average volume of 150,978. The company has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.72 and a beta of 0.91. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $20.39 and a fifty-two week high of $38.19. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $32.79 and a 200-day moving average of $29.48.

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

Amalgamated Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 5th. Amalgamated Financial’s payout ratio is presently 14.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder United Workers sold 31,844 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.77, for a total value of $1,139,059.88. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,512,731 shares in the company, valued at $268,730,387.87. This represents a 0.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder United Canada Council Workers sold 44,577 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.97, for a total transaction of $1,335,972.69. Following the sale, the insider now owns 384,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,537,850.60. This represents a 10.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 625,919 shares of company stock worth $21,688,307 in the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAL. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Amalgamated Financial by 17.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 428,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,748,000 after buying an additional 63,561 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amalgamated Financial in the 1st quarter valued at about $909,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Amalgamated Financial during the second quarter worth about $1,378,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C acquired a new stake in Amalgamated Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,219,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 63.0% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 15,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,030 shares in the last quarter. 75.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.