Pathward Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASH) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Pathward Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASH) was the target of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,840,000 shares, a growth of 5.7% from the November 30th total of 1,740,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 198,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 9.3 days. Currently, 7.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CASH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Pathward Financial from $76.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Pathward Financial from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Greg Sigrist sold 2,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.60, for a total transaction of $181,350.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,644 shares in the company, valued at $777,306.40. This represents a 18.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pathward Financial

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pathward Financial during the third quarter worth $476,000. Foundry Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Pathward Financial by 59.3% during the third quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 131,458 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $8,678,000 after buying an additional 48,917 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Pathward Financial by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 699,884 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $46,206,000 after buying an additional 18,936 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC increased its stake in shares of Pathward Financial by 83.1% in the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 80,376 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $4,547,000 after acquiring an additional 36,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pathward Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $725,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.66% of the company’s stock.

Pathward Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Pathward Financial stock opened at $72.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.25. Pathward Financial has a fifty-two week low of $46.68 and a fifty-two week high of $86.00. The firm has a market cap of $1.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.94 and a beta of 0.69.

Pathward Financial (NASDAQ:CASH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.08. Pathward Financial had a return on equity of 21.86% and a net margin of 21.65%. The company had revenue of $167.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.20 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Pathward Financial will post 7.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pathward Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th were paid a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 10th. Pathward Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3.02%.

Pathward Financial Company Profile

Pathward Financial, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Pathward, National Association that provides various banking products and services in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Consumer, Commercial, and Corporate Services/Other. It offers demand deposit accounts, savings accounts, and money market savings accounts.