UMB Financial Co. (NASDAQ:UMBF) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

UMB Financial Co. (NASDAQ:UMBF) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,620,000 shares, a drop of 19.0% from the February 28th total of 2,000,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 723,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days. Approximately 3.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Activity at UMB Financial

In other news, Director Kevin Charles Gallagher sold 527 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.13, for a total value of $60,146.51. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,010 shares in the company, valued at $1,484,831.30. This trade represents a 3.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO J Mariner Kemper sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.61, for a total value of $380,135.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 334,347 shares in the company, valued at $36,313,427.67. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.45% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UMB Financial

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of UMB Financial by 767.4% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 21,269 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,236,000 after purchasing an additional 18,817 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of UMB Financial by 46.9% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 13,105 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,479,000 after acquiring an additional 4,182 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of UMB Financial by 403.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 866,848 shares of the bank’s stock worth $91,114,000 after acquiring an additional 694,751 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of UMB Financial by 107.8% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 5,545 shares of the bank’s stock worth $626,000 after acquiring an additional 2,877 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in UMB Financial by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,114,251 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $117,139,000 after purchasing an additional 21,091 shares in the last quarter. 87.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $128.00 target price on shares of UMB Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of UMB Financial from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $127.00 price target (down from $130.00) on shares of UMB Financial in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of UMB Financial from $123.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered UMB Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, UMB Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $128.71.

UMB Financial Stock Performance

UMBF traded up $1.08 on Wednesday, reaching $101.61. The company had a trading volume of 77,569 shares, compared to its average volume of 490,193. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $109.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $112.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.38 billion, a PE ratio of 11.31 and a beta of 0.79. UMB Financial has a 1 year low of $76.00 and a 1 year high of $129.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

UMB Financial (NASDAQ:UMBF) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $2.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.25 by $0.24. UMB Financial had a net margin of 15.76% and a return on equity of 13.73%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that UMB Financial will post 9.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UMB Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. UMB Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.80%.

About UMB Financial

UMB Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company that provides banking services and asset servicing in the United States and internationally. The Commercial Banking segment provides commercial loans and credit card; commercial real estate financing; letters of credit; loan syndication, and consultative service; various business solutions including asset-based lending, mezzanine debt, and minority equity investment; and treasury management service, such as depository service, account reconciliation, cash management tool, accounts payable and receivable solution, electronic fund transfer and automated payment, controlled disbursement, lockbox service, and remote deposit capture service.