ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNOB) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNOB) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the four analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $24.00.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of ConnectOne Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price (down from $24.00) on shares of ConnectOne Bancorp in a research note on Friday, May 31st.

ConnectOne Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of CNOB opened at $17.36 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $665.41 million, a P/E ratio of 9.19 and a beta of 1.27. ConnectOne Bancorp has a 1 year low of $14.51 and a 1 year high of $24.44. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $18.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

ConnectOne Bancorp (NASDAQ:CNOB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.01). ConnectOne Bancorp had a return on equity of 7.39% and a net margin of 15.29%. The firm had revenue of $64.15 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.93 million. On average, equities analysts predict that ConnectOne Bancorp will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

ConnectOne Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.15%. This is a positive change from ConnectOne Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. ConnectOne Bancorp’s payout ratio is 38.10%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ConnectOne Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CNOB. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 27.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,500,507 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,414,000 after acquiring an additional 743,209 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC boosted its position in ConnectOne Bancorp by 698.1% during the first quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 676,791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,197,000 after purchasing an additional 591,995 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 118.2% in the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 246,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,641,000 after purchasing an additional 133,384 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp in the third quarter valued at $1,086,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,270,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,009,000 after purchasing an additional 58,277 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.70% of the company’s stock.

ConnectOne Bancorp Company Profile

ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for ConnectOne Bank that provides commercial banking products and services for small and mid-sized businesses, local professionals, and individuals in the New York Metropolitan area and South Florida market. The company offers personal and business checking, money market, and time and savings accounts; credit cards, wire transfers, safe deposit boxes, automated teller services and telephone, and internet and mobile banking.