Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBMT) Short Interest Up 41.7% in September

Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBMT) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 13,600 shares, a growth of 41.7% from the September 15th total of 9,600 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 11,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.1 days.

Eagle Bancorp Montana Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Eagle Bancorp Montana stock opened at $16.53 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.94. Eagle Bancorp Montana has a 52-week low of $11.26 and a 52-week high of $17.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $132.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.76 and a beta of 0.53. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $14.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.81.

Eagle Bancorp Montana (NASDAQ:EBMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.06). Eagle Bancorp Montana had a return on equity of 5.07% and a net margin of 7.06%. The firm had revenue of $30.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.50 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Eagle Bancorp Montana will post 1.07 EPS for the current year.

Eagle Bancorp Montana Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $0.142 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $0.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.44%. This is a boost from Eagle Bancorp Montana’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. Eagle Bancorp Montana’s payout ratio is 50.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Peter Joseph Johnson sold 7,374 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.28, for a total transaction of $105,300.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 61,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $873,064.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 9,079 shares of company stock valued at $129,171 in the last three months. 6.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Eagle Bancorp Montana

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its holdings in Eagle Bancorp Montana by 14.3% in the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 171,174 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,254,000 after acquiring an additional 21,441 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Eagle Bancorp Montana by 3.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 93,172 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,236,000 after buying an additional 2,937 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Eagle Bancorp Montana by 0.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 361,193 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,638,000 after buying an additional 1,075 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Eagle Bancorp Montana by 7.6% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 19,936 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Finally, John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lifted its position in Eagle Bancorp Montana by 105.1% during the first quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 52,082 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $669,000 after buying an additional 26,690 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 35.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Eagle Bancorp Montana in a research report on Sunday, September 15th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Hovde Group assumed coverage on shares of Eagle Bancorp Montana in a report on Friday, July 5th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $13.50 price objective on the stock.

Eagle Bancorp Montana Company Profile

Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Opportunity Bank of Montana that provides various retail banking products and services to small businesses and individuals in Montana. It accepts various deposit products, such as checking, savings, money market, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit accounts.