Empirical Finance LLC Acquires 40,176 Shares of Ponce Financial Group, Inc. $PDLB

Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in Ponce Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDLB) by 19.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 247,389 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 40,176 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC owned about 1.02% of Ponce Financial Group worth $4,134,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Ponce Financial Group by 9.9% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 242,135 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,046,000 after buying an additional 21,888 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Ponce Financial Group by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 50,457 shares of the company’s stock worth $843,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Ponce Financial Group by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 939,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,692,000 after purchasing an additional 25,634 shares during the last quarter. M3F Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ponce Financial Group by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. M3F Inc. now owns 2,003,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,486,000 after purchasing an additional 147,979 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zacks Investment Management purchased a new stake in shares of Ponce Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth $661,000. 64.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PDLB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings lowered Ponce Financial Group from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. New Street Research set a $24.00 price target on shares of Ponce Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen cut Ponce Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Ponce Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ponce Financial Group has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.00.

Ponce Financial Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:PDLB opened at $20.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The firm has a market cap of $488.64 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.54 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.74. Ponce Financial Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $13.71 and a 1-year high of $20.74.

Ponce Financial Group (NASDAQ:PDLB) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 24th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $30.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.70 million. Ponce Financial Group had a net margin of 15.74% and a return on equity of 10.09%. Equities research analysts forecast that Ponce Financial Group, Inc. will post 10.53 EPS for the current year.

Ponce Financial Group Company Profile

Ponce Financial Group, Inc (NASDAQ: PDLB) is a bank holding company based in Puerto Rico. Through its primary subsidiary, Banco Ponce, the company offers a range of commercial and retail banking services tailored to individuals, small businesses and corporate clients across the island.

The company’s core business activities include deposit-taking, commercial and consumer lending, mortgage origination and servicing, and treasury management solutions. In addition to traditional banking products, Ponce Financial Group provides cash management, electronic banking and wealth management services designed to support the financial needs of its diverse client base.

Ponce Financial Group operates exclusively in Puerto Rico, serving both urban and rural communities through its branch network.