Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) Sees Large Volume Increase – What’s Next?

Shares of Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Monday . 1,137,300 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 165% from the previous session’s volume of 428,875 shares.The stock last traded at $9.72 and had previously closed at $9.62.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on KRNY. Weiss Ratings cut Kearny Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Zacks Research raised Kearny Financial to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Kearny Financial from $9.50 to $10.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.50.

Kearny Financial Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $632.50 million, a P/E ratio of 17.14 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $9.29 and its 200 day moving average is $8.38.

Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $45.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.61 million. Kearny Financial had a net margin of 10.45% and a return on equity of 4.92%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Kearny Financial will post 0.8 EPS for the current year.

Kearny Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 12th will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 12th. Kearny Financial’s payout ratio is currently 77.19%.

Insider Activity at Kearny Financial

In other Kearny Financial news, Director Melvina Wong-Zaza bought 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $8.57 per share, with a total value of $29,995.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 33,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $290,608.70. This represents a 11.51% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Leopold W. Montanaro bought 4,773 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $9.46 per share, for a total transaction of $45,152.58. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 270,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,554,200. The trade was a 1.80% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders acquired a total of 44,273 shares of company stock worth $394,676 in the last 90 days. 7.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kearny Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Kearny Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $84,461,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Kearny Financial by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,348,893 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $22,002,000 after purchasing an additional 133,683 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Kearny Financial by 36.4% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,023,294 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $14,993,000 after purchasing an additional 539,811 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its position in Kearny Financial by 488.8% in the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,612,987 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $11,952,000 after purchasing an additional 1,339,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Kearny Financial by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,437,222 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $10,851,000 after purchasing an additional 81,050 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

About Kearny Financial

Kearny Financial, Inc was the bank holding company for Kearny Bank, a New Jersey–based community bank offering a full suite of commercial and consumer banking services. Through its subsidiary, the company provided deposit products, lending facilities and electronic banking solutions to individuals, small businesses and middle-market corporations.

The company’s core products included checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial real estate loans, construction financing, equipment financing, home equity lines of credit and consumer installment loans.