ESSA Bancorp, Inc. (ESSA) To Go Ex-Dividend on June 15th

ESSA Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESSA – Get Rating) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 24th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 16th will be given a dividend of 0.15 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, June 30th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 15th.

ESSA Bancorp has raised its dividend by an average of 11.6% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 2 consecutive years. ESSA Bancorp has a dividend payout ratio of 32.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect ESSA Bancorp to earn $1.87 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.1%.

ESSA Bancorp Stock Down 1.1 %

ESSA opened at $13.95 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.59. ESSA Bancorp has a 52 week low of $12.79 and a 52 week high of $21.80. The company has a market capitalization of $145.08 million, a PE ratio of 6.67 and a beta of 0.27.

Institutional Trading of ESSA Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ESSA. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of ESSA Bancorp by 29.8% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 50,430 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $905,000 after buying an additional 11,575 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in ESSA Bancorp by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $822,000 after purchasing an additional 2,714 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in ESSA Bancorp by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 323,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,804,000 after purchasing an additional 42,126 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in ESSA Bancorp by 89.1% in the 4th quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 8,998 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $188,000 after purchasing an additional 4,240 shares during the period. Finally, Advisor Group Holdings Inc. raised its position in ESSA Bancorp by 2,577.4% in the 4th quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 3,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 2,964 shares during the period. 37.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ESSA Bancorp in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating for the company.

ESSA Bancorp Company Profile

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ESSA Bancorp, Inc operates as a bank holding company. The firm engages in the provision of banking, trust and advisory services. It offers personal and business banking, government financial services, investment and wealth management, retirement planning and insurance products. It operates through the following segments: Real Estate Loans, Commercial, Obligations of states and political subdivisions, Home equity loans and lines of credit, Auto loans and Other.