ConnectOne Bancorp (NASDAQ:CNOB) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold”

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of ConnectOne Bancorp (NASDAQ:CNOB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday.

CNOB has been the topic of several other reports. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of ConnectOne Bancorp in a research report on Friday, November 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $28.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ConnectOne Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ConnectOne Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.50.

ConnectOne Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CNOB opened at $26.27 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. ConnectOne Bancorp has a 12 month low of $20.61 and a 12 month high of $28.47. The stock has a market cap of $1.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.19 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a 50 day moving average of $25.83 and a 200 day moving average of $25.02.

ConnectOne Bancorp (NASDAQ:CNOB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $110.78 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.20 million. ConnectOne Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.22% and a net margin of 9.90%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ConnectOne Bancorp will post 2.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConnectOne Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th were given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. ConnectOne Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 58.06%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ConnectOne Bancorp

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in ConnectOne Bancorp by 7.6% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 74,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,800,000 after purchasing an additional 5,205 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 21,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 914 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in ConnectOne Bancorp by 2.1% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 146,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,572,000 after purchasing an additional 2,972 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in ConnectOne Bancorp by 374.7% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 64,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,569,000 after buying an additional 50,942 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at about $625,000. 67.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ConnectOne Bancorp Company Profile

ConnectOne Bancorp is a New Jersey?based bank holding company whose primary subsidiary, ConnectOne Bank, offers a suite of commercial banking services to small and medium?sized businesses, professionals and individuals. Established in 2005 and headquartered in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, the company seeks to deliver customized lending and deposit solutions through a network of branches across northern New Jersey and the New York metropolitan area.

The company’s lending portfolio centers on commercial real estate financing, construction lending, owner?occupied real estate loans and working capital lines of credit.