Provident Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVBC) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Provident Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVBC) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 287,300 shares, a growth of 142.0% from the June 30th total of 118,700 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 81,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Provident Bancorp Stock Performance

PVBC traded down $0.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $11.86. The stock had a trading volume of 31,415 shares, compared to its average volume of 152,477. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $10.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.79. The firm has a market cap of $209.40 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.12 and a beta of 0.46. Provident Bancorp has a one year low of $7.36 and a one year high of $12.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Provident Bancorp (NASDAQ:PVBC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The bank reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $13.84 million during the quarter. Provident Bancorp had a return on equity of 6.27% and a net margin of 14.09%. As a group, research analysts predict that Provident Bancorp will post 0.5 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $11.00 price target on shares of Provident Bancorp in a research note on Monday, May 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Provident Bancorp news, Director Dennis Pollack bought 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $9.92 per share, with a total value of $99,200.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99,200. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Joseph Stilwell sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.62, for a total transaction of $721,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 271,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,607,154.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Dennis Pollack purchased 10,000 shares of Provident Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $9.92 per share, with a total value of $99,200.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $99,200. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 16,075 shares of company stock valued at $158,161. 3.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Provident Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Provident Bancorp by 135.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 64,524 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $657,000 after acquiring an additional 37,151 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Provident Bancorp by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 35,380 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $322,000 after acquiring an additional 2,625 shares during the period. Stilwell Value LLC lifted its position in shares of Provident Bancorp by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Stilwell Value LLC now owns 1,831,467 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,443,000 after buying an additional 10,601 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Provident Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth $243,000. 74.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Provident Bancorp Company Profile

Provident Bancorp, Inc is a Maryland corporation that was formed in 2019 to be the successor corporation to Provident Bancorp, Inc, a Massachusetts corporation, and the holding company for The Provident Bank. The Provident Bank, a subsidiary of Provident Bancorp, Inc is an innovative, commercial bank that finds solutions for its business and private clients.