ESSA Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESSA) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

ESSA Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESSA) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 61,200 shares, an increase of 67.2% from the February 29th total of 36,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 14,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.1 days. Approximately 0.7% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ESSA. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ESSA Bancorp by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 22,001 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $440,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of ESSA Bancorp by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 10,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $201,000 after purchasing an additional 1,406 shares during the period. Money Concepts Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of ESSA Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ESSA Bancorp by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 436,465 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,551,000 after purchasing an additional 1,556 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in ESSA Bancorp by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 23,868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 1,583 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of ESSA Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th.

ESSA Bancorp Stock Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ:ESSA traded up $0.37 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $18.23. The stock had a trading volume of 8,990 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,493. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.36. The company has a market capitalization of $184.67 million, a PE ratio of 9.85 and a beta of 0.30. ESSA Bancorp has a twelve month low of $12.79 and a twelve month high of $20.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

ESSA Bancorp (NASDAQ:ESSA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.01). ESSA Bancorp had a net margin of 17.88% and a return on equity of 8.22%. The business had revenue of $28.05 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.60 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that ESSA Bancorp will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

ESSA Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. ESSA Bancorp’s payout ratio is 32.43%.

ESSA Bancorp Company Profile

ESSA Bancorp, Inc operates as a bank holding company for ESSA Bank & Trust that provides a range of financial services to individuals, families, and businesses in Pennsylvania. The company accepts savings accounts, interest bearing demand accounts, checking accounts, money market accounts, club accounts, certificates of deposit and IRAs, and other qualified plan accounts, as well as commercial checking accounts.