Brandes Investment Partners LP Acquires 19,907 Shares of Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBMT)

Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBMT) by 9.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 220,349 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,907 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in Eagle Bancorp Montana were worth $3,378,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Eagle Bancorp Montana by 25.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 10,567 shares of the bank’s stock worth $167,000 after acquiring an additional 2,165 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Eagle Bancorp Montana by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 23,408 shares of the bank’s stock worth $359,000 after acquiring an additional 960 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Eagle Bancorp Montana by 5.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,838 shares of the bank’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Eagle Bancorp Montana by 17.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 77,133 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,218,000 after acquiring an additional 11,490 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in shares of Eagle Bancorp Montana by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 45,699 shares of the bank’s stock worth $701,000 after acquiring an additional 1,699 shares in the last quarter. 35.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kenneth M. Walsh sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.11, for a total transaction of $151,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 126,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,904,358.63. This represents a 7.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 6.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Eagle Bancorp Montana from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th.

Eagle Bancorp Montana Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of EBMT stock opened at $16.85 on Friday. Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. has a 52-week low of $12.32 and a 52-week high of $18.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.13. The company has a market capitalization of $135.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.59 and a beta of 0.48.

Eagle Bancorp Montana (NASDAQ:EBMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.15. Eagle Bancorp Montana had a net margin of 8.02% and a return on equity of 5.68%. Research analysts anticipate that Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eagle Bancorp Montana Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.1425 dividend. This represents a $0.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. This is an increase from Eagle Bancorp Montana’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Eagle Bancorp Montana’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.97%.

Eagle Bancorp Montana Company Profile

Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Opportunity Bank of Montana that provides various retail banking products and services to small businesses and individuals in Montana. It accepts various deposit products, such as checking, savings, money market, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit accounts.