Erste Group Bank (OTCMKTS:EBKDY) Sees Large Volume Increase – Should You Buy?

Shares of Erste Group Bank AG (OTCMKTS:EBKDY) saw an uptick in trading volume on Tuesday . 109,672 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 53% from the previous session’s volume of 71,610 shares.The stock last traded at $42.02 and had previously closed at $40.57.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on EBKDY. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Erste Group Bank in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. UBS Group upgraded Erste Group Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 26th. Finally, Citigroup lowered Erste Group Bank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Erste Group Bank has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

Erste Group Bank Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $34.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.92, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.96.

Erste Group Bank (OTCMKTS:EBKDY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.10 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $3.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.21 billion. Erste Group Bank had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 16.22%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Erste Group Bank AG will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Erste Group Bank Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 28th were paid a dividend of $1.1657 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.89%. Erste Group Bank’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.31%.

Erste Group Bank Company Profile

Erste Group Bank AG provides a range of banking and other financial services to retail, corporate, and public sector customers. The company operates through Retail, Corporates, Group Markets, Asset/Liability Management & Local Corporate Center, Savings Banks, and Group Corporate Center segments. It provides mortgage and consumer loans, investment products, current accounts, savings products, and credit cards, as well as cross selling products, such as leasing, insurance, and building society products.