Lazard Asset Management LLC Acquires 12,086 Shares of Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL)

Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL) by 22.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 65,850 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 12,086 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Amalgamated Financial were worth $2,203,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Amalgamated Financial by 91.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 119,165 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,739,000 after acquiring an additional 57,008 shares in the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas bought a new stake in shares of Amalgamated Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 16,712 shares of the company’s stock worth $559,000 after buying an additional 2,283 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 35.8% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 21,379 shares of the company’s stock worth $716,000 after buying an additional 5,640 shares in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Amalgamated Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.93% of the company’s stock.

Amalgamated Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMAL opened at $30.62 on Friday. Amalgamated Financial Corp. has a 52-week low of $24.02 and a 52-week high of $38.19. The company has a market cap of $936.67 million, a P/E ratio of 8.88 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.37.

Amalgamated Financial (NASDAQ:AMAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88. Amalgamated Financial had a return on equity of 16.49% and a net margin of 24.50%. The firm had revenue of $79.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $74.78 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Amalgamated Financial Corp. will post 3.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amalgamated Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 6th. Amalgamated Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.62%.

Amalgamated Financial declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, March 10th that allows the company to buyback $40.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 4.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler downgraded Amalgamated Financial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Amalgamated Financial from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Sean Searby sold 3,000 shares of Amalgamated Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.49, for a total transaction of $97,470.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 17,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $573,091.11. This trade represents a 14.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Tyrone Graham sold 3,317 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.50, for a total value of $101,168.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $349,194.50. This trade represents a 22.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 7,926 shares of company stock valued at $243,070. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Amalgamated Financial Company Profile

Amalgamated Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Amalgamated Bank that provides commercial and retail banking, investment management, and trust and custody services for commercial and retail customers in the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, including non-interest bearing accounts, interest-bearing demand products, savings accounts, money market accounts, NOW accounts, and certificates of deposit.