Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) saw a significant growth in short interest in June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totaling 1,920,176 shares, a growth of 78.2% from the June 15th total of 1,077,701 shares. Currently, 3.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 939,622 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Curtland E. Fields purchased 4,950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $8.34 per share, with a total value of $41,283.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 39,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $330,264. This represents a 14.29% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Melvina Wong-Zaza purchased 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $8.57 per share, with a total value of $29,995.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 33,910 shares in the company, valued at $290,608.70. This represents a 11.51% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 24,800 shares of company stock valued at $211,196. 7.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kearny Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KRNY. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Kearny Financial during the fourth quarter valued at $1,145,000. Bailard Inc. bought a new stake in Kearny Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $711,000. ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Kearny Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $78,000. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new position in Kearny Financial in the 4th quarter worth about $87,000. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Kearny Financial in the 4th quarter worth about $88,000. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Kearny Financial from $9.50 to $10.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Kearny Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Kearny Financial to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Kearny Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.50.

Kearny Financial Price Performance

KRNY stock opened at $9.50 on Friday. Kearny Financial has a 12 month low of $5.76 and a 12 month high of $9.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $8.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.09. The stock has a market cap of $615.03 million, a PE ratio of 16.67 and a beta of 0.64.

Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15. The company had revenue of $44.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.67 million. Kearny Financial had a net margin of 10.39% and a return on equity of 4.61%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Kearny Financial will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Kearny Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 6th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. Kearny Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.19%.

Kearny Financial Company Profile

Kearny Financial, Inc was the bank holding company for Kearny Bank, a New Jersey–based community bank offering a full suite of commercial and consumer banking services. Through its subsidiary, the company provided deposit products, lending facilities and electronic banking solutions to individuals, small businesses and middle-market corporations.

The company’s core products included checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial real estate loans, construction financing, equipment financing, home equity lines of credit and consumer installment loans.