First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Acquires New Holdings in Pathward Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASH)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. bought a new position in shares of Pathward Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASH) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,238 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CASH. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pathward Financial by 302.2% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 551 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Pathward Financial by 726.8% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 587 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 516 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can acquired a new position in Pathward Financial during the 4th quarter worth $201,000. AXA S.A. bought a new stake in Pathward Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $203,000. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA acquired a new stake in shares of Pathward Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $210,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Pathward Financial from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd.

Pathward Financial Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of Pathward Financial stock opened at $76.97 on Thursday. Pathward Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $51.98 and a 1 year high of $86.00. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.95. The company has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.22 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Pathward Financial (NASDAQ:CASH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $3.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by $0.40. Pathward Financial had a net margin of 21.91% and a return on equity of 22.02%. The firm had revenue of $262.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $256.30 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.56 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Pathward Financial, Inc. will post 7.26 EPS for the current year.

Pathward Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Pathward Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pathward Financial

In other news, CAO Jennifer W. Warren sold 1,667 shares of Pathward Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.97, for a total transaction of $129,975.99. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,019 shares in the company, valued at approximately $391,331.43. The trade was a 24.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kendall E. Stork sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.33, for a total transaction of $317,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,153 shares in the company, valued at approximately $488,117.49. The trade was a 39.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,882 shares of company stock valued at $1,403,123 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.23% of the company’s stock.

Pathward Financial Profile

Pathward Financial, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Pathward, National Association that provides various banking products and services in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Consumer, Commercial, and Corporate Services/Other. It offers demand deposit accounts, savings accounts, and money market savings accounts.