UBS Group AG Boosts Stock Holdings in ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. $CNOB

UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNOB) by 579.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 705,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 601,310 shares during the period. UBS Group AG owned 1.40% of ConnectOne Bancorp worth $18,488,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 728.4% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 1,566 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new position in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth $48,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 129.1% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $91,000 after buying an additional 1,958 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 791.0% in the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 4,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 707.0% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $149,000 after buying an additional 5,642 shares in the last quarter. 67.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNOB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of ConnectOne Bancorp in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Hovde Group lifted their price objective on shares of ConnectOne Bancorp from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of ConnectOne Bancorp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of ConnectOne Bancorp from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of ConnectOne Bancorp in a research note on Monday, March 16th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have given a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.25.

ConnectOne Bancorp Price Performance

CNOB stock opened at $29.46 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $27.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.75. The stock has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.03 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.79 and a 12 month high of $30.65.

ConnectOne Bancorp (NASDAQ:CNOB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $116.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.59 million. ConnectOne Bancorp had a net margin of 13.21% and a return on equity of 10.17%. Equities research analysts anticipate that ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

ConnectOne Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a $0.195 dividend. This is a positive change from ConnectOne Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $0.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. ConnectOne Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.62%.

ConnectOne Bancorp Company Profile

ConnectOne Bancorp is a New Jersey‐based bank holding company whose primary subsidiary, ConnectOne Bank, offers a suite of commercial banking services to small and medium‐sized businesses, professionals and individuals. Established in 2005 and headquartered in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, the company seeks to deliver customized lending and deposit solutions through a network of branches across northern New Jersey and the New York metropolitan area.

The company’s lending portfolio centers on commercial real estate financing, construction lending, owner‐occupied real estate loans and working capital lines of credit.