Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 25,800 shares, a growth of 26.5% from the February 28th total of 20,400 shares. Currently, 0.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 14,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Insider Activity at Oak Valley Bancorp

In other news, Director Gary Strong acquired 1,000 shares of Oak Valley Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $27.17 per share, for a total transaction of $27,170.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $321,747.14. The trade was a 9.22 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director H Randolph Holder, Jr. bought 2,393 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $25.00 per share, with a total value of $59,825.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 150,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,750,650. This represents a 1.62 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 9,924 shares of company stock valued at $256,577. 19.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Oak Valley Bancorp

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of OVLY. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Oak Valley Bancorp by 122.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 15,368 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 8,471 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Oak Valley Bancorp by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,295,000 after buying an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Oak Valley Bancorp by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 217,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,769,000 after buying an additional 842 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Oak Valley Bancorp by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 155,526 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,133,000 after acquiring an additional 3,646 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Oak Valley Bancorp by 123.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,755 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $286,000 after acquiring an additional 5,945 shares during the period. 30.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Oak Valley Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday.

Oak Valley Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ OVLY traded up $0.76 on Wednesday, reaching $25.70. The company had a trading volume of 15,896 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,076. The firm has a market cap of $214.83 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.51 and a beta of 0.28. Oak Valley Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $23.00 and a fifty-two week high of $32.24. The business has a 50 day moving average of $25.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.39.

Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Oak Valley Bancorp had a return on equity of 14.28% and a net margin of 28.03%.

Oak Valley Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.30 dividend. This is a positive change from Oak Valley Bancorp’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a yield of 1.7%. Oak Valley Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 19.87%.

Oak Valley Bancorp Company Profile

Oak Valley Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Oak Valley Community Bank that provides a range of commercial banking services to individuals and small to medium-sized businesses in the Central Valley and the Eastern Sierras. The company's deposits products include checking and savings, money market, health savings, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit.