ESSA Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESSA) Short Interest Update

ESSA Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESSA - Get Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 23,100 shares, a drop of 62.3% from the March 15th total of 61,200 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 13,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days. Currently, 0.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ESSA Bancorp

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in ESSA Bancorp by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 22,001 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $440,000 after acquiring an additional 578 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of ESSA Bancorp by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 10,088 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $201,000 after acquiring an additional 1,406 shares in the last quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of ESSA Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ESSA Bancorp by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 436,465 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,551,000 after acquiring an additional 1,556 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ESSA Bancorp by 7.1% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 23,868 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 1,583 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.15% of the company's stock.

ESSA Bancorp Price Performance

ESSA stock traded up $0.01 during trading on Thursday, hitting $16.57. 13,620 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,596. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock has a market cap of $167.85 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.96 and a beta of 0.31. ESSA Bancorp has a one year low of $12.79 and a one year high of $20.87. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.51.

ESSA Bancorp (NASDAQ:ESSA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $28.05 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.60 million. ESSA Bancorp had a net margin of 17.88% and a return on equity of 8.22%. Equities analysts expect that ESSA Bancorp will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ESSA Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. ESSA Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is 32.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of ESSA Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th.

ESSA Bancorp Company Profile

ESSA Bancorp, Inc operates as a bank holding company for ESSA Bank & Trust that provides a range of financial services to individuals, families, and businesses in Pennsylvania. The company accepts savings accounts, interest bearing demand accounts, checking accounts, money market accounts, club accounts, certificates of deposit and IRAs, and other qualified plan accounts, as well as commercial checking accounts.

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