Natural Investments LLC Buys New Stake in Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL)

Natural Investments LLC bought a new stake in Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 20,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $691,000. Natural Investments LLC owned about 0.07% of Amalgamated Financial at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMAL. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new position in Amalgamated Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $5,339,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 219.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 162,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,083,000 after purchasing an additional 111,357 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 18.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 567,609 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,806,000 after purchasing an additional 89,444 shares during the last quarter. Figure 8 Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amalgamated Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $2,778,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Amalgamated Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $2,244,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.93% of the company’s stock.

Amalgamated Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMAL opened at $29.35 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Amalgamated Financial Corp. has a 52-week low of $21.33 and a 52-week high of $38.19. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $33.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.70. The firm has a market cap of $900.14 million, a P/E ratio of 8.51 and a beta of 0.93.

Amalgamated Financial (NASDAQ:AMAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.03. Amalgamated Financial had a return on equity of 16.49% and a net margin of 24.50%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Amalgamated Financial Corp. will post 3.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Amalgamated Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. This is a positive change from Amalgamated Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Amalgamated Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.23%.

Amalgamated Financial announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, March 10th that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 4.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMAL has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler lowered Amalgamated Financial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, February 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Amalgamated Financial from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Tyrone Graham sold 869 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total value of $25,835.37. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,580 shares in the company, valued at $314,543.40. This trade represents a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder States Regional Joint Western sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.27, for a total transaction of $616,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,167,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $245,641,054.32. The trade was a 0.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,916 shares of company stock valued at $1,035,526 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Amalgamated Financial Company Profile

Amalgamated Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Amalgamated Bank that provides commercial and retail banking, investment management, and trust and custody services for commercial and retail customers in the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, including non-interest bearing accounts, interest-bearing demand products, savings accounts, money market accounts, NOW accounts, and certificates of deposit.