Short Interest in Parke Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PKBK) Declines By 31.0%

Key Points

• Short interest down 31% — short interest fell to 100,760 shares as of April 15 (about 1.0% of shares), with a short-interest ratio of just 0.8 days based on average volume, signaling reduced bearish positioning.
• Mixed insider activity: CEO Vito S. Pantilione bought 1,000 shares while Director Jack C. Sheppard Jr. sold 22,500 shares; insiders collectively own 12.97% of the company.
• Solid recent results and income — Parke reported EPS of $0.99 for the quarter with a 28.04% net margin and 13.2% ROE, pays a $0.18 quarterly dividend (2.4% yield), and trades at a P/E of 8.66 with a market cap of ~$355 million.

Parke Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PKBK - Get Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 100,760 shares, a decline of 31.0% from the March 31st total of 146,048 shares. Approximately 1.0% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 134,264 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.8 days.

Insider Transactions at Parke Bancorp

In other Parke Bancorp news, CEO Vito S. Pantilione bought 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 29th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $27.63 per share, with a total value of $27,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 236,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,524,244.27. The trade was a 0.43% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Jack C. Sheppard, Jr. sold 22,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.03, for a total transaction of $608,175.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders acquired a total of 1,700 shares of company stock valued at $47,430 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.97% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Parke Bancorp by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 42,942 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,075,000 after acquiring an additional 5,316 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Parke Bancorp by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 49,443 shares of the bank's stock worth $932,000 after buying an additional 1,644 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP boosted its holdings in Parke Bancorp by 30.5% in the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 33,144 shares of the bank's stock worth $830,000 after buying an additional 7,747 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P boosted its holdings in Parke Bancorp by 83.5% in the 4th quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 29,227 shares of the bank's stock worth $732,000 after buying an additional 13,300 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. bought a new position in Parke Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $247,000. 49.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Parke Bancorp in a research report on Friday, March 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Parke Bancorp currently has an average rating of "Buy".

Parke Bancorp Stock Up 0.5%

PKBK stock traded up $0.15 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $30.29. The stock had a trading volume of 64,109 shares, compared to its average volume of 93,297. Parke Bancorp has a one year low of $18.52 and a one year high of $31.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The company's 50 day moving average is $28.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.69. The company has a market capitalization of $355.24 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.66 and a beta of 0.48.

Parke Bancorp (NASDAQ:PKBK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter. Parke Bancorp had a net margin of 28.04% and a return on equity of 13.20%. The firm had revenue of $22.99 million during the quarter.

Parke Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 3rd were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 2nd. Parke Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.57%.

Parke Bancorp Company Profile

Parke Bancorp, Inc is the bank holding company for Parke Bank, a community-oriented financial institution headquartered in Kittanning, Pennsylvania. The company delivers a full range of retail and commercial banking services to individuals, small businesses and agricultural clients through a network of branches and ATMs, supported by secure online and mobile banking platforms.

Its product lineup includes deposit accounts—such as checking, savings, money market accounts and certificates of deposit—alongside a variety of lending solutions.

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