Erste Group Bank AG (OTCMKTS:EBKDY) Stock Short Interest Climbs 405.9%

Key Points

• Short interest surged 405.9% to 6,931 shares as of October 15, up from 1,370 shares at the end of September. Despite the increase, short interest represents 0.0% of shares outstanding and only 0.1 days of average trading volume.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with Erste Group Bank receiving an average “Buy” rating from MarketBeat. Ratings include one Strong Buy, five Buys and one Hold.
• The stock opened at $58.44, below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, while the bank recently reported quarterly EPS of $1.44 and revenue of $4.62 billion, exceeding analyst estimates.

Erste Group Bank AG (OTCMKTS:EBKDY - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totaling 6,931 shares, an increase of 405.9% from the September 30th total of 1,370 shares. Currently, 0.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 121,033 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Erste Group Bank in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded Erste Group Bank from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Erste Group Bank in a report on Monday, July 20th. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Erste Group Bank in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Erste Group Bank to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Erste Group Bank presently has an average rating of "Buy".

Erste Group Bank Price Performance

Shares of OTCMKTS:EBKDY opened at $58.44 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.77. Erste Group Bank has a one year low of $48.38 and a one year high of $73.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.13, a PEG ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.92.

Erste Group Bank (OTCMKTS:EBKDY - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.01. Erste Group Bank had a net margin of 18.39% and a return on equity of 10.22%. The business had revenue of $4.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.48 billion. On average, analysts predict that Erste Group Bank will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

About Erste Group Bank

Erste Group Bank AG is an Austria-based financial services group that provides banking and related services to retail customers, small and medium-sized businesses, corporations, public-sector organizations and institutional clients. Its offerings include deposit accounts, consumer and mortgage lending, business finance, payment services, investment products, securities trading and wealth management.

Founded in 1819 as Erste österreichische Spar-Casse, the group has developed into one of Central and Eastern Europe's major banking organizations.

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