Erste Group Bank AG (OTCMKTS:EBKDY) Short Interest Up 3,613.0% in July

Erste Group Bank AG (OTCMKTS:EBKDY) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totaling 30,669 shares, a growth of 3,613.0% from the July 15th total of 826 shares. Approximately 0.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 87,711 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.3 days.

Erste Group Bank Stock Down 0.3%

OTCMKTS:EBKDY traded down $0.21 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $69.39. The company had a trading volume of 23,843 shares, compared to its average volume of 76,362. The company has a market capitalization of $53.90 billion, a PE ratio of 13.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.85. Erste Group Bank has a 52-week low of $46.84 and a 52-week high of $71.09. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $65.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.99.

Erste Group Bank (OTCMKTS:EBKDY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.01. Erste Group Bank had a return on equity of 11.32% and a net margin of 18.39%.The business had revenue of $4.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.48 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Erste Group Bank will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on EBKDY. Zacks Research upgraded Erste Group Bank from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Erste Group Bank in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Erste Group Bank to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Erste Group Bank in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Erste Group Bank in a research note on Monday, July 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

About Erste Group Bank

Erste Group Bank AG is an Austrian banking group headquartered in Vienna that operates as a universal bank serving retail, corporate and institutional customers. The group offers a broad range of financial services including deposit-taking, lending, mortgage financing, payment and transaction banking, and wealth management. Erste Group also provides capital markets services, corporate and investment banking solutions, and a range of insurance and pension-linked products through partnerships and subsidiary operations.

Erste Group maintains a significant regional presence beyond Austria, with operations across several Central and Eastern European countries.