Kearny Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:KRNY) Short Interest Up 11.7% in August

Kearny Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:KRNY) saw a significant growth in short interest in August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 779,700 shares, a growth of 11.7% from the July 31st total of 698,300 shares. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 468,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Kearny Financial Trading Up 0.1 %

KRNY stock opened at $6.81 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $438.82 million, a PE ratio of 27.24 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Kearny Financial has a one year low of $5.28 and a one year high of $9.46. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $6.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $6.10.

Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The savings and loans company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.03). Kearny Financial had a positive return on equity of 3.32% and a negative net margin of 26.51%. The business had revenue of $39.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.00 million.

Kearny Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.46%. Kearny Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 176.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Thomas Demedici sold 6,304 shares of Kearny Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.00, for a total transaction of $37,824.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 70,614 shares in the company, valued at approximately $423,684. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 8.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kearny Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kearny Financial by 44.9% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,199 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,612 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its position in Kearny Financial by 53.1% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 9,367 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC purchased a new stake in Kearny Financial in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $65,000. Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kearny Financial in the 1st quarter worth approximately $94,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in shares of Kearny Financial by 55.6% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 12,216 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 4,363 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Kearny Financial from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th.

Kearny Financial Company Profile

Kearny Financial Corp. operates as the holding company for Kearny Bank that provides various banking products and services in the United States. The company offers various deposit products, including interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit accounts.