Franklin Resources Inc. Decreases Stake in Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL)

Franklin Resources Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL) by 29.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 129,435 shares of the company’s stock after selling 54,771 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.42% of Amalgamated Financial worth $4,332,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 219.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 162,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,083,000 after purchasing an additional 111,357 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in Amalgamated Financial during the third quarter worth about $214,000. FMR LLC grew its position in Amalgamated Financial by 198.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 35,663 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,119,000 after buying an additional 23,697 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Amalgamated Financial by 82.6% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 21,327 shares of the company’s stock valued at $669,000 after buying an additional 9,647 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 704,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,112,000 after acquiring an additional 33,095 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder States Regional Joint Western sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.27, for a total transaction of $616,860.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,167,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $245,641,054.32. This trade represents a 0.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Maryann Bruce sold 4,403 shares of Amalgamated Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.77, for a total transaction of $148,689.31. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $618,632.63. The trade was a 19.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 31,656 shares of company stock worth $1,054,122. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Piper Sandler downgraded Amalgamated Financial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, February 21st.

Amalgamated Financial Stock Performance

Shares of AMAL opened at $26.24 on Friday. Amalgamated Financial Corp. has a 12-month low of $21.33 and a 12-month high of $38.19. The stock has a market cap of $805.23 million, a P/E ratio of 7.61 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a 50-day moving average of $30.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.09.

Amalgamated Financial (NASDAQ:AMAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.03. Amalgamated Financial had a return on equity of 16.49% and a net margin of 24.50%. As a group, research analysts predict that Amalgamated Financial Corp. will post 3.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amalgamated Financial declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 10th that authorizes the company to buyback $40.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Amalgamated Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. This is a positive change from Amalgamated Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Amalgamated Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.23%.

Amalgamated Financial Company Profile

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.