ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:COFS) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:COFS) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 337,600 shares, an increase of 7.9% from the December 31st total of 313,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 31,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 10.7 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, DA Davidson reduced their price objective on ChoiceOne Financial Services from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th.

ChoiceOne Financial Services Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of COFS traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $33.19. 2,875 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,408. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. ChoiceOne Financial Services has a 52 week low of $21.52 and a 52 week high of $38.15. The company has a market cap of $297.34 million, a PE ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.36.

ChoiceOne Financial Services (NASDAQ:COFS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.01. ChoiceOne Financial Services had a net margin of 19.21% and a return on equity of 12.44%. On average, research analysts forecast that ChoiceOne Financial Services will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ChoiceOne Financial Services Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This is a boost from ChoiceOne Financial Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. ChoiceOne Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is 34.36%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ChoiceOne Financial Services

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in ChoiceOne Financial Services by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 8,165 shares of the company’s stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 611 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of ChoiceOne Financial Services by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 28,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after buying an additional 1,329 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of ChoiceOne Financial Services during the 4th quarter worth approximately $123,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of ChoiceOne Financial Services by 157.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 6,652 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of ChoiceOne Financial Services by 173.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 13,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $412,000 after acquiring an additional 8,463 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 19.90% of the company’s stock.

ChoiceOne Financial Services Company Profile

ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc operates as the bank holding company for ChoiceOne Bank that provides banking services to corporations, partnerships, and individuals in Michigan. The company offers various deposit products, including time, savings, and demand deposits, safe deposit, and automated transaction machine services.