ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNOB) Short Interest Update

ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNOB) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,340,000 shares, an increase of 5.5% from the March 15th total of 1,270,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 182,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.3 days. Approximately 3.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ConnectOne Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CNOB. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 13.3% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,577,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $59,357,000 after buying an additional 419,953 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in ConnectOne Bancorp by 27.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,500,507 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,414,000 after acquiring an additional 743,209 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in ConnectOne Bancorp by 2.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,654,948 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,939,000 after acquiring an additional 65,356 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in ConnectOne Bancorp by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,090,143 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,885,000 after purchasing an additional 44,565 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Piper Sandler raised their price target on ConnectOne Bancorp from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James raised their price target on ConnectOne Bancorp from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on ConnectOne Bancorp from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.25.

ConnectOne Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ:CNOB opened at $18.00 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $19.38 and its 200 day moving average is $20.01. ConnectOne Bancorp has a 12 month low of $13.11 and a 12 month high of $24.44. The company has a market capitalization of $689.94 million, a P/E ratio of 8.70 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

ConnectOne Bancorp (NASDAQ:CNOB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $66.03 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $65.50 million. ConnectOne Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.14% and a net margin of 17.26%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that ConnectOne Bancorp will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConnectOne Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, February 15th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 14th. ConnectOne Bancorp’s payout ratio is 32.85%.

ConnectOne Bancorp Company Profile

ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for ConnectOne Bank that provides commercial banking products and services for small and mid-sized businesses, local professionals, and individuals in the New York Metropolitan area and South Florida market. The company offers personal and business checking, money market, and time and savings accounts; credit cards, wire transfers, safe deposit boxes, automated teller services and telephone, and internet and mobile banking.