Amalgamated Financial (NASDAQ:AMAL) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Still a Buy?

Shares of Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL) saw unusually-high trading volume on Thursday . Approximately 474,373 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 138% from the previous session’s volume of 198,981 shares.The stock last traded at $28.44 and had previously closed at $27.71.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AMAL shares. Piper Sandler raised Amalgamated Financial from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Amalgamated Financial in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.50.

Amalgamated Financial Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $27.45 and a 200-day moving average of $29.31. The company has a market cap of $862.57 million, a PE ratio of 8.68 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Amalgamated Financial (NASDAQ:AMAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 19th. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $49.68 million during the quarter. Amalgamated Financial had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 22.97%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Amalgamated Financial Corp. will post 3.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Amalgamated Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 5th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 5th. Amalgamated Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.87%.

Insider Activity

In other Amalgamated Financial news, Director Lynne P. Fox sold 8,949 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.34, for a total value of $244,665.66. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 22,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $609,025.84. This represents a 28.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Julie Kelly sold 6,697 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.34, for a total transaction of $183,095.98. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 16,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $458,300.42. This trade represents a 28.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 29,961 shares of company stock valued at $837,329 in the last three months. 1.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 33.1% during the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 348,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,021,000 after purchasing an additional 86,714 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Amalgamated Financial by 4.6% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 526,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,127,000 after purchasing an additional 23,293 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Amalgamated Financial in the second quarter worth $427,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Amalgamated Financial by 4.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,255,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,086,000 after buying an additional 48,803 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amalgamated Financial in the first quarter valued at $3,416,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.93% of the company’s stock.

About Amalgamated Financial

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.