ESSA Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESSA) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

ESSA Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESSA) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 61,200 shares, a growth of 67.2% from the February 29th total of 36,600 shares. Approximately 0.7% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 14,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Money Concepts Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of ESSA Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of ESSA Bancorp by 20,766.7% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,878 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,869 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of ESSA Bancorp during the third quarter worth about $32,000. Comerica Bank bought a new stake in ESSA Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC bought a new stake in ESSA Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded ESSA Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th.

ESSA Bancorp Stock Performance

ESSA Bancorp stock traded up $0.37 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $18.23. The stock had a trading volume of 8,990 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,493. ESSA Bancorp has a 12 month low of $12.79 and a 12 month high of $20.87. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $18.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.67 million, a PE ratio of 9.85 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

ESSA Bancorp (NASDAQ:ESSA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $28.05 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.60 million. ESSA Bancorp had a net margin of 17.88% and a return on equity of 8.22%. As a group, research analysts predict that ESSA Bancorp will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ESSA Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. ESSA Bancorp’s payout ratio is 32.43%.

About ESSA Bancorp

ESSA Bancorp, Inc operates as a bank holding company for ESSA Bank & Trust that provides a range of financial services to individuals, families, and businesses in Pennsylvania. The company accepts savings accounts, interest bearing demand accounts, checking accounts, money market accounts, club accounts, certificates of deposit and IRAs, and other qualified plan accounts, as well as commercial checking accounts.