Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

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

Insider Activity at Amalgamated Financial

In other Amalgamated Financial news, major shareholder States Regional Joint Western sold 175,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.24, for a total transaction of $6,517,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,558,575 shares in the company, valued at $281,481,333. The trade was a 2.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Jason Darby sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.59, for a total value of $146,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,837,110.72. The trade was a 7.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 396,865 shares of company stock worth $14,547,758. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AMAL. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in Amalgamated Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Amalgamated Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Amalgamated Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $55,000. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 28.4% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 74.9% in 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. 75.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on AMAL shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Amalgamated Financial from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler increased their target price 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.

Amalgamated Financial Stock Performance

Shares of AMAL stock opened at $33.77 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Amalgamated Financial has a 52 week low of $21.33 and a 52 week high of $38.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of 9.79 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $34.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.10.

Amalgamated Financial (NASDAQ:AMAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Amalgamated Financial will post 3.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amalgamated Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. This is a positive change from Amalgamated Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. Amalgamated Financial’s payout ratio is currently 16.23%.

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.