Kearny Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:KRNY) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Kearny Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:KRNY) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 995,400 shares, a drop of 5.2% from the March 15th total of 1,050,000 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 449,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kearny Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 12th.

Insider Activity at Kearny Financial

In related news, Director Melvina Wong-Zaza bought 3,945 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $6.47 per share, for a total transaction of $25,524.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,595 shares in the company, valued at $42,669.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Melvina Wong-Zaza bought 3,945 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $6.47 per share, for a total transaction of $25,524.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,595 shares in the company, valued at $42,669.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher Petermann bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was bought at an average price of $6.14 per share, for a total transaction of $61,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 56,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $344,693.46. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have bought 15,945 shares of company stock worth $98,664. 8.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kearny Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Kearny Financial by 24.1% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 39,080 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 7,581 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in Kearny Financial during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $123,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Kearny Financial by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 863,080 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $5,981,000 after buying an additional 52,965 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Kearny Financial by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 392,869 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,723,000 after buying an additional 2,739 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio increased its stake in Kearny Financial by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 80,700 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $559,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kearny Financial Price Performance

Shares of KRNY stock opened at $5.54 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $6.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $7.27. Kearny Financial has a 12 month low of $5.44 and a 12 month high of $9.46. The company has a market capitalization of $357.00 million, a PE ratio of 19.10 and a beta of 0.71.

Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The savings and loans company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $19.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.60 million. Kearny Financial had a net margin of 5.84% and a return on equity of 4.44%.

Kearny Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 7th were paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 6th. Kearny Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 151.73%.

About Kearny Financial

Kearny Financial Corp. operates as the holding company for Kearny Bank that provides various banking products and services in the United States. The company offers various deposit products, including interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit accounts.