Short Interest in Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL) Rises By 5.3%

Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 881,100 shares, a growth of 5.3% from the March 15th total of 837,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 154,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.7 days. Currently, 5.0% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amalgamated Financial

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its position in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 2,182,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,579,000 after purchasing an additional 59,337 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its position in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 26.5% in the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 317,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,461,000 after purchasing an additional 66,420 shares during the last quarter. Clean Yield Group increased its position in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 145,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,919,000 after purchasing an additional 4,960 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 30.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 129,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,479,000 after purchasing an additional 30,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 862,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,859,000 after purchasing an additional 32,733 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on AMAL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Amalgamated Financial from $33.00 to $29.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Amalgamated Financial from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 5th.

Amalgamated Financial Stock Performance

Shares of AMAL stock opened at $21.55 on Wednesday. Amalgamated Financial has a 12 month low of $14.05 and a 12 month high of $27.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $657.28 million, a P/E ratio of 7.53 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $23.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.62.

Amalgamated Financial (NASDAQ:AMAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.01). Amalgamated Financial had a return on equity of 16.60% and a net margin of 22.71%. The firm had revenue of $105.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $71.59 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Amalgamated Financial will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amalgamated Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 6th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 5th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. Amalgamated Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.99%.

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.