LCNB Corp. (NASDAQ:LCNB) Short Interest Up 7.1% in August

LCNB Corp. (NASDAQ:LCNB) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 350,400 shares, an increase of 7.1% from the August 15th total of 327,100 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 40,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 8.7 days. Currently, 3.4% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On LCNB

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its holdings in LCNB by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 10,054 shares of the bank’s stock worth $181,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in LCNB by 14.4% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,433 shares of the bank’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 812 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in LCNB by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 32,956 shares of the bank’s stock worth $579,000 after acquiring an additional 816 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in LCNB by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 69,063 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,095,000 after acquiring an additional 1,026 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in LCNB by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 22,774 shares of the bank’s stock worth $335,000 after acquiring an additional 1,033 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of LCNB from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 25th.

LCNB Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LCNB opened at $15.15 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. LCNB has a 1 year low of $13.33 and a 1 year high of $19.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $168.47 million, a P/E ratio of 8.19 and a beta of 0.75. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.69.

LCNB (NASDAQ:LCNB) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.09. LCNB had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 24.38%. The business had revenue of $22.35 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.90 million. Equities analysts forecast that LCNB will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

LCNB Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 1st were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 31st. LCNB’s payout ratio is currently 45.41%.

About LCNB

LCNB Corp. operates as the financial holding company for LCNB National Bank that provides banking services in Ohio. Its deposit products include checking accounts, demand deposits, savings accounts, NOW and money market deposits, as well as individual retirement accounts and time certificates. The company's loan products comprise commercial and industrial, commercial and residential real estate, agricultural, construction, and small business administration loans; and residential mortgage loans that consists of loans for purchasing or refinancing personal residences, home equity lines of credit, and loans for commercial or consumer purposes secured by residential mortgages.