Short Interest in The Bank of New York Mellon Co. (NYSE:BK) Drops By 6.9%

The Bank of New York Mellon Co. (NYSE:BK) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,070,000 shares, a drop of 6.9% from the March 15th total of 7,590,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,960,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.8 days. Approximately 0.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Activity at Bank of New York Mellon

In related news, VP Catherine Keating sold 4,498 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.81, for a total value of $246,535.38. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 123,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,768,486.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Bank of New York Mellon

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Bank of New York Mellon by 160.0% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 5,358 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $263,000 after buying an additional 3,297 shares during the period. Prudential PLC purchased a new position in Bank of New York Mellon in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,096,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in Bank of New York Mellon by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 35,635 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,769,000 after buying an additional 1,154 shares during the period. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. boosted its position in Bank of New York Mellon by 54.3% in the 1st quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 232,115 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $11,519,000 after buying an additional 81,728 shares during the period. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its position in Bank of New York Mellon by 165.3% in the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 1,459 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 909 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $58.00 price target on shares of Bank of New York Mellon in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Bank of New York Mellon from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Bank of New York Mellon from $54.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Bank of New York Mellon from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Bank of New York Mellon from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.17.

Bank of New York Mellon Stock Up 0.9 %

Bank of New York Mellon stock opened at $54.47 on Thursday. Bank of New York Mellon has a fifty-two week low of $39.65 and a fifty-two week high of $58.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $55.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.10. The company has a market capitalization of $41.01 billion, a PE ratio of 13.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.12.

Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The bank reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.10. Bank of New York Mellon had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 11.63%. The firm had revenue of $4.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Bank of New York Mellon will post 5.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of New York Mellon Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. Bank of New York Mellon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.32%.

About Bank of New York Mellon

The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation provides a range of financial products and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Securities Services, Market and Wealth Services, Investment and Wealth Management, and other segments. The Securities Services segment offers custody, trust and depositary, accounting, exchange-traded funds, middle-office solutions, transfer agency, services for private equity and real estate funds, foreign exchange, securities lending, liquidity/lending services, and data analytics.