ConnectOne Bancorp (NASDAQ:CNOB) Receives Outperform Rating from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated their outperform rating on shares of ConnectOne Bancorp (NASDAQ:CNOB) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $24.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, down from their previous target price of $27.00.

CNOB has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler upped their price target on ConnectOne Bancorp from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of ConnectOne Bancorp from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of ConnectOne Bancorp from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ConnectOne Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $24.50.

ConnectOne Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of ConnectOne Bancorp stock opened at $18.30 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $701.44 million, a P/E ratio of 9.68 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.06. ConnectOne Bancorp has a 12 month low of $13.11 and a 12 month high of $24.44.

ConnectOne Bancorp (NASDAQ:CNOB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.03. ConnectOne Bancorp had a net margin of 15.29% and a return on equity of 7.41%. The company had revenue of $66.03 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $65.50 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that ConnectOne Bancorp will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

ConnectOne Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.93%. This is an increase from ConnectOne Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. ConnectOne Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.98%.

Institutional Trading of ConnectOne Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CNOB. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 27.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,500,507 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,414,000 after purchasing an additional 743,209 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in ConnectOne Bancorp by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,270,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,009,000 after buying an additional 58,277 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in ConnectOne Bancorp by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,045,578 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,473,000 after acquiring an additional 14,564 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 438,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,039,000 after acquiring an additional 41,010 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 118.2% during the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 246,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,641,000 after purchasing an additional 133,384 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.70% of the company’s stock.

ConnectOne Bancorp Company Profile

ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for ConnectOne Bank that provides commercial banking products and services for small and mid-sized businesses, local professionals, and individuals in the New York Metropolitan area and South Florida market. The company offers personal and business checking, money market, and time and savings accounts; credit cards, wire transfers, safe deposit boxes, automated teller services and telephone, and internet and mobile banking.