Pathward Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASH) Short Interest Down 7.0% in October

Pathward Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASH) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,720,000 shares, a drop of 7.0% from the October 15th total of 1,850,000 shares. Currently, 7.0% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 176,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 9.7 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pathward Financial news, CFO Greg Sigrist sold 2,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.60, for a total value of $181,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,644 shares in the company, valued at $777,306.40. This represents a 18.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Anthony M. Sharett sold 3,100 shares of Pathward Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.40, for a total transaction of $205,840.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 30,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,995,054.40. This represents a 9.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,350 shares of company stock worth $517,010 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pathward Financial

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pathward Financial by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 269,425 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $13,601,000 after purchasing an additional 19,539 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Pathward Financial by 103.3% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 149,143 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $8,437,000 after acquiring an additional 75,792 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pathward Financial during the third quarter worth about $476,000. Algert Global LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pathward Financial by 83.1% during the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 80,376 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $4,547,000 after acquiring an additional 36,475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Pathward Financial by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 12,803 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $724,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. 92.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pathward Financial Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ CASH opened at $78.97 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.97 billion, a PE ratio of 11.91 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Pathward Financial has a 12-month low of $46.68 and a 12-month high of $83.83. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $63.51.

Pathward Financial (NASDAQ:CASH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.08. Pathward Financial had a return on equity of 21.86% and a net margin of 21.65%. The company had revenue of $167.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.20 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Pathward Financial will post 7.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pathward Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th were paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.25%. Pathward Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Pathward Financial from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Pathward Financial from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th.

About Pathward Financial

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.