Amalgamated Financial (NASDAQ:AMAL) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Still a Buy?

Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Thursday . Approximately 263,653 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 33% from the previous session’s volume of 198,902 shares.The stock last traded at $36.30 and had previously closed at $36.40.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AMAL shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Amalgamated Financial from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Amalgamated Financial from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

Amalgamated Financial Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of 10.63 and a beta of 0.92.

Amalgamated Financial (NASDAQ:AMAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.03. Amalgamated Financial had a return on equity of 16.49% and a net margin of 24.50%. Equities research analysts predict that Amalgamated Financial Corp. will post 3.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amalgamated Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. This is a boost from Amalgamated Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. Amalgamated Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.91%.

Insider Transactions at Amalgamated Financial

In other news, Director Maryann Bruce sold 4,403 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.77, for a total value of $148,689.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,319 shares in the company, valued at $618,632.63. This trade represents a 19.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder States Regional Joint Western sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.21, for a total value of $352,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,185,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $253,012,581.36. This trade represents a 0.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 53,730 shares of company stock worth $1,869,152 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Amalgamated Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Amalgamated Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $224,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Amalgamated Financial by 58.6% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 147,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,952,000 after acquiring an additional 54,692 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Amalgamated Financial by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 217,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,278,000 after acquiring an additional 1,776 shares during the period. Aquatic Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Amalgamated Financial by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 11,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 882 shares during the period. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Amalgamated Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $379,000. 75.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Amalgamated Financial

Amalgamated Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Amalgamated Bank that provides commercial and retail banking, investment management, and trust and custody services for commercial and retail customers in the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, including non-interest bearing accounts, interest-bearing demand products, savings accounts, money market accounts, NOW accounts, and certificates of deposit.