CNB Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:CCNE) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Short interest rose 50.8% in March to 530,318 shares (about 1.8% of shares), giving a short-interest ratio of 2.5 days based on average daily volume.
• CNB beat quarterly expectations with $0.87 EPS (vs. $0.77 expected) and $87.16M revenue (vs. $73.10M), and analysts have upgraded the stock to an average "Buy" rating with a consensus target of $32 (Stephens $35).
• The firm raised its quarterly dividend to $0.19 (annualized $0.76) for a 2.5% yield, and institutional investors own about 52.35% of the company.

CNB Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:CCNE - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 530,318 shares, an increase of 50.8% from the March 15th total of 351,681 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 215,852 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days.

CNB Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CCNE opened at $30.94 on Tuesday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $28.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.82. CNB Financial has a fifty-two week low of $19.78 and a fifty-two week high of $31.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $917.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.73 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

CNB Financial (NASDAQ:CCNE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The bank reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.10. CNB Financial had a return on equity of 11.10% and a net margin of 15.29%.The firm had revenue of $87.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.10 million. As a group, analysts predict that CNB Financial will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CNB Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th were given a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 27th. This is a positive change from CNB Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. CNB Financial's dividend payout ratio is presently 31.28%.

Institutional Trading of CNB Financial

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CCNE. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of CNB Financial by 116.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,876,033 shares of the bank's stock worth $45,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007,751 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CNB Financial by 38.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,572,656 shares of the bank's stock worth $38,058,000 after purchasing an additional 435,300 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of CNB Financial by 37.8% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,480,034 shares of the bank's stock worth $35,817,000 after purchasing an additional 406,167 shares during the last quarter. Maltese Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of CNB Financial by 228.4% during the third quarter. Maltese Capital Management LLC now owns 478,200 shares of the bank's stock worth $11,572,000 after purchasing an additional 332,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of CNB Financial by 335.7% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 266,663 shares of the bank's stock worth $6,453,000 after purchasing an additional 205,464 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.35% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded CNB Financial from a "hold (c)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Stephens boosted their price objective on CNB Financial from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded CNB Financial from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $32.00.

About CNB Financial

CNB Financial Corporation NASDAQ: CCNE is a bank holding company headquartered in Clearfield, Pennsylvania. The company operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, CNB Bank & Trust, providing a full suite of community banking services. With a focus on relationship-driven banking, CNB Financial seeks to serve individuals, small businesses and agricultural clients across central Pennsylvania.

The company's core offerings include deposit products such as checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts and certificates of deposit.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.