Banc Funds Co. LLC Sells 10,000 Shares of ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNOB)

Banc Funds Co. LLC reduced its stake in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNOB) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 479,086 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 10,000 shares during the quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC’s holdings in ConnectOne Bancorp were worth $10,976,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CNOB. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 792.3% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,030 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 52,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,191,000 after buying an additional 2,780 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management lifted its holdings in ConnectOne Bancorp by 35.1% in the fourth quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 12,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $286,000 after buying an additional 3,251 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in ConnectOne Bancorp by 4.0% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 91,650 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,296,000 after acquiring an additional 3,565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 36,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $843,000 after acquiring an additional 3,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded ConnectOne Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th.

ConnectOne Bancorp Stock Down 0.7 %

CNOB opened at $21.40 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.74. ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.07 and a 1-year high of $29.31. The stock has a market cap of $823.26 million, a PE ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 1.09.

ConnectOne Bancorp (NASDAQ:CNOB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.10. ConnectOne Bancorp had a net margin of 13.80% and a return on equity of 6.77%. As a group, research analysts expect that ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current year.

ConnectOne Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. ConnectOne Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.68%.

About ConnectOne Bancorp

ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for ConnectOne Bank that provides commercial banking products and services for small and mid-sized businesses, local professionals, and individuals in the New York Metropolitan area and South Florida market. The company offers personal and business checking, money market, and time and savings accounts; credit cards, wire transfers, safe deposit boxes, automated teller services and telephone, and internet and mobile banking.