New York Community Bancorp (NYSE:NYCB) Raised to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of New York Community Bancorp (NYSE:NYCB) to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on NYCB. Barclays started coverage on shares of New York Community Bancorp in a research note on Friday, March 8th. They set an equal weight rating and a $4.00 target price for the company. Compass Point downgraded shares of New York Community Bancorp from a buy rating to a neutral rating and reduced their price target for the company from $16.00 to $8.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of New York Community Bancorp from a buy rating to a hold rating and reduced their price target for the company from $15.00 to $7.00 in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. TheStreet downgraded shares of New York Community Bancorp from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of New York Community Bancorp from $5.00 to $3.50 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $5.39.

New York Community Bancorp Stock Performance

New York Community Bancorp stock opened at $3.37 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $3.38 and a 200-day moving average of $7.07. The firm has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.95. New York Community Bancorp has a 1-year low of $1.70 and a 1-year high of $14.22.

New York Community Bancorp (NYSE:NYCB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.01. New York Community Bancorp had a net margin of 28.96% and a return on equity of 6.22%. The company had revenue of $633.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $776.81 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. New York Community Bancorp’s revenue was down 76.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that New York Community Bancorp will post -0.08 EPS for the current year.

New York Community Bancorp Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. New York Community Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Alessandro Dinello purchased 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $4.19 per share, with a total value of $209,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chairman now owns 114,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $478,937.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Marshall Lux bought 27,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $3.69 per share, for a total transaction of $99,999.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 64,872 shares in the company, valued at $239,377.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Alessandro Dinello bought 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was bought at an average price of $4.19 per share, for a total transaction of $209,500.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 114,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $478,937.95. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 213,410 shares of company stock valued at $875,626. Corporate insiders own 1.62% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On New York Community Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NYCB. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of New York Community Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth about $77,628,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of New York Community Bancorp by 7.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 67,668,954 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $767,366,000 after buying an additional 4,723,876 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its stake in shares of New York Community Bancorp by 154.0% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 5,135,955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $58,242,000 after buying an additional 3,114,070 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of New York Community Bancorp by 353.5% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,830,195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,953,000 after buying an additional 2,206,140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its stake in New York Community Bancorp by 187.4% during the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 2,466,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,234,000 after purchasing an additional 1,608,267 shares during the period. 67.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About New York Community Bancorp

New York Community Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Flagstar Bank, N.A. that provides banking products and services in the United States. The company's deposit products include interest-bearing checking and money market, savings, non-interest-bearing, and retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit.