ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:COFS) Short Interest Up 7.9% in January

ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:COFS) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 337,600 shares, an increase of 7.9% from the December 31st total of 313,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 31,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 10.7 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, DA Davidson reduced their price target on ChoiceOne Financial Services from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th.

ChoiceOne Financial Services Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COFS opened at $33.10 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $296.58 million, a P/E ratio of 10.15 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $35.37 and its 200-day moving average is $32.36. ChoiceOne Financial Services has a 1-year low of $21.52 and a 1-year high of $38.15.

ChoiceOne Financial Services (NASDAQ:COFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.01. ChoiceOne Financial Services had a return on equity of 12.44% and a net margin of 19.21%. Equities research analysts anticipate that ChoiceOne Financial Services will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current year.

ChoiceOne Financial Services Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This is a positive change from ChoiceOne Financial Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. ChoiceOne Financial Services’s payout ratio is currently 34.36%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ChoiceOne Financial Services

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in COFS. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of ChoiceOne Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth approximately $123,000. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of ChoiceOne Financial Services by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 8,165 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 611 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of ChoiceOne Financial Services by 157.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 6,652 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of ChoiceOne Financial Services by 173.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 13,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $412,000 after acquiring an additional 8,463 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in ChoiceOne Financial Services by 7.3% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 19,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $544,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares during the period. 19.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About ChoiceOne Financial Services

ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc operates as the bank holding company for ChoiceOne Bank that provides banking services to corporations, partnerships, and individuals in Michigan. The company offers various deposit products, including time, savings, and demand deposits, safe deposit, and automated transaction machine services.