Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in ESSA Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESSA)

Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of ESSA Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESSA) by 14.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,000 shares during the period. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.17% of ESSA Bancorp worth $312,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in ESSA Bancorp by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 22,001 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $440,000 after acquiring an additional 578 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in ESSA Bancorp by 7.1% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 23,868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 1,583 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in ESSA Bancorp by 1,141.9% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 3,378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 3,106 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in ESSA Bancorp by 45.5% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 14,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $221,000 after acquiring an additional 4,608 shares during the period. 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 report on Tuesday, February 27th.

ESSA Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of ESSA Bancorp stock opened at $16.87 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $170.89 million, a P/E ratio of 9.12 and a beta of 0.36. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. ESSA Bancorp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $13.91 and a 12 month high of $20.87.

ESSA Bancorp (NASDAQ:ESSA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $16.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.29 million. ESSA Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.12% and a net margin of 16.84%. As a group, analysts anticipate that ESSA Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.8 EPS for the current year.

ESSA Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.56%. ESSA Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 32.43%.

ESSA Bancorp Company Profile

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.