Western New England Bancorp (NASDAQ:WNEB) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western New England Bancorp (NASDAQ:WNEB) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Western New England Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $11.00.

Western New England Bancorp Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ WNEB opened at $13.43 on Thursday. Western New England Bancorp has a 52-week low of $7.63 and a 52-week high of $13.95. The stock has a market cap of $275.18 million, a PE ratio of 17.67 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a fifty day moving average of $12.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Western New England Bancorp (NASDAQ:WNEB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $22.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.62 million. Western New England Bancorp had a net margin of 11.64% and a return on equity of 6.36%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Western New England Bancorp will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western New England Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be given a dividend of $0.07 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Western New England Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 36.84%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WNEB. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Western New England Bancorp by 103.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 434,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,007,000 after buying an additional 220,852 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Western New England Bancorp by 5.3% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 405,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,736,000 after buying an additional 20,282 shares in the last quarter. Mangrove Partners IM LLC lifted its position in shares of Western New England Bancorp by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mangrove Partners IM LLC now owns 225,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,707,000 after acquiring an additional 20,489 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Western New England Bancorp by 3.9% during the second quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 221,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,049,000 after purchasing an additional 8,331 shares during the period. Finally, White Pine Capital LLC increased its stake in Western New England Bancorp by 1.5% in the second quarter. White Pine Capital LLC now owns 168,254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,553,000 after acquiring an additional 2,553 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.95% of the company’s stock.

About Western New England Bancorp

Western New England Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Westfield, Massachusetts. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Westfield Bank, the company provides a full suite of commercial and consumer banking services. Its operations focus on serving small to mid-sized businesses, professional practices, and individual customers, with a strategy centered on relationship-driven banking and community involvement.

The company’s core offerings include deposit products such as checking, savings and money market accounts, along with business cash-management solutions.