Melvina Wong-Zaza Buys 3,500 Shares of Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) Stock

Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) Director Melvina Wong-Zaza purchased 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.57 per share, with a total value of $29,995.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 33,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $290,608.70. This represents a 11.51% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Kearny Financial Price Performance

Kearny Financial stock traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $8.74. 240,979 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 353,384. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The business has a fifty day moving average of $8.08 and a 200 day moving average of $7.79. Kearny Financial has a 1-year low of $5.76 and a 1-year high of $8.78. The company has a market capitalization of $565.50 million, a PE ratio of 15.32 and a beta of 0.66.

Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.15. Kearny Financial had a return on equity of 4.61% and a net margin of 10.39%.The firm had revenue of $44.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.67 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Kearny Financial will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Kearny Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 6th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.0%. Kearny Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.19%.

Institutional Trading of Kearny Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in Kearny Financial by 119.5% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 7,248 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 3,946 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Kearny Financial by 16.4% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 276,505 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,088,000 after purchasing an additional 39,036 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in Kearny Financial by 25.5% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 238,229 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,799,000 after purchasing an additional 48,350 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Kearny Financial by 6.0% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,437,222 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $10,851,000 after purchasing an additional 81,050 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Kearny Financial by 110.8% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 92,759 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $700,000 after purchasing an additional 48,759 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on KRNY. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Kearny Financial in a report on Monday, April 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $9.50 price objective for the company. Zacks Research raised shares of Kearny Financial to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Kearny Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kearny Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.50.

Kearny Financial Company Profile

Kearny Financial, Inc was the bank holding company for Kearny Bank, a New Jersey–based community bank offering a full suite of commercial and consumer banking services. Through its subsidiary, the company provided deposit products, lending facilities and electronic banking solutions to individuals, small businesses and middle-market corporations.

The company’s core products included checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial real estate loans, construction financing, equipment financing, home equity lines of credit and consumer installment loans.