Kennedy Capital Management LLC Buys 99,228 Shares of ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. $CNOB

Kennedy Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNOB) by 13.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 863,983 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 99,228 shares during the quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC’s holdings in ConnectOne Bancorp were worth $22,654,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in ConnectOne Bancorp by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 8,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $229,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares during the period. Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its position in ConnectOne Bancorp by 195.6% during the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 1,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in ConnectOne Bancorp by 4.4% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 21,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 914 shares during the period. EJF Capital LLC boosted its position in ConnectOne Bancorp by 3.7% during the third quarter. EJF Capital LLC now owns 30,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $750,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in ConnectOne Bancorp by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 9,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114 shares during the period. 67.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

ConnectOne Bancorp Trading Up 1.5%

CNOB opened at $32.76 on Friday. ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.79 and a twelve month high of $32.87. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.94 and a beta of 1.06.

ConnectOne Bancorp (NASDAQ:CNOB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.06. ConnectOne Bancorp had a net margin of 13.21% and a return on equity of 10.17%. The business had revenue of $116.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.59 million. Analysts predict that ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConnectOne Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.195 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This is a positive change from ConnectOne Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. ConnectOne Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 45.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on CNOB shares. Hovde Group lifted their price objective on shares of ConnectOne Bancorp from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of ConnectOne Bancorp in a research report on Monday, March 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of ConnectOne Bancorp in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of ConnectOne Bancorp from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of ConnectOne Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have given a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, ConnectOne Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $33.25.

ConnectOne Bancorp Profile

ConnectOne Bancorp is a New Jersey‐based bank holding company whose primary subsidiary, ConnectOne Bank, offers a suite of commercial banking services to small and medium‐sized businesses, professionals and individuals. Established in 2005 and headquartered in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, the company seeks to deliver customized lending and deposit solutions through a network of branches across northern New Jersey and the New York metropolitan area.

The company’s lending portfolio centers on commercial real estate financing, construction lending, owner‐occupied real estate loans and working capital lines of credit.