Victory Capital Management Inc. Purchases New Shares in Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL)

Victory Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 24,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $804,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AMAL. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Amalgamated Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,339,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 219.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 162,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,083,000 after buying an additional 111,357 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 18.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 567,609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,806,000 after buying an additional 89,444 shares during the last quarter. Figure 8 Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Amalgamated Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,778,000. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 91.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 119,165 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,739,000 after buying an additional 57,008 shares during the last quarter. 75.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amalgamated Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAL opened at $29.34 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $900.36 million, a P/E ratio of 8.50 and a beta of 0.93. Amalgamated Financial Corp. has a 1-year low of $21.33 and a 1-year high of $38.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $33.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.50.

Amalgamated Financial (NASDAQ:AMAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.03. Amalgamated Financial had a return on equity of 16.49% and a net margin of 24.50%. Equities analysts predict that Amalgamated Financial Corp. will post 3.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Amalgamated Financial declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 10th that allows the company to repurchase $40.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 4.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Amalgamated Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This is a boost from Amalgamated Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Amalgamated Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 16.23%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Maryann Bruce sold 4,403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.77, for a total value of $148,689.31. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $618,632.63. This represents a 19.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Tyrone Graham sold 869 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total value of $25,835.37. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,543.40. This trade represents a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,916 shares of company stock valued at $1,035,526 in the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AMAL shares. Piper Sandler cut Amalgamated Financial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $42.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, February 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Amalgamated Financial from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Amalgamated Financial Company Profile

Amalgamated Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Amalgamated Bank that provides commercial and retail banking, investment management, and trust and custody services for commercial and retail customers in the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, including non-interest bearing accounts, interest-bearing demand products, savings accounts, money market accounts, NOW accounts, and certificates of deposit.