Persistent Asset Partners Ltd Sells 42,909 Shares of ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. $CNOB

Persistent Asset Partners Ltd trimmed its stake in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNOB) by 56.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 32,890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 42,909 shares during the quarter. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd’s holdings in ConnectOne Bancorp were worth $862,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 8,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 560 shares in the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 195.6% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 1,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 880 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 4.4% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 21,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $524,000 after buying an additional 914 shares during the period. EJF Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 3.7% in the third quarter. EJF Capital LLC now owns 30,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $750,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 9,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $248,000 after buying an additional 1,114 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on CNOB. Weiss Ratings upgraded ConnectOne Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on ConnectOne Bancorp from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Hovde Group raised their target price on ConnectOne Bancorp from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of ConnectOne Bancorp in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler initiated coverage on ConnectOne Bancorp in a research report on Monday, March 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $31.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.25.

ConnectOne Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ:CNOB opened at $32.54 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.81 and a beta of 1.06. ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $21.79 and a 52-week high of $33.12. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $29.63 and a 200 day moving average of $27.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97.

ConnectOne Bancorp (NASDAQ:CNOB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.06. ConnectOne Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.17% and a net margin of 13.21%.The firm had revenue of $116.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $119.59 million. On average, research analysts expect that ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConnectOne Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $0.195 dividend. This is an increase from ConnectOne Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. ConnectOne Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.09%.

About ConnectOne Bancorp

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.