Short Interest in Chemical Financial Co. (CHFC) Rises By 35.3%

Posted by Chris Copeland on Feb 14th, 2019 // No Comments

Chemical Financial Co. (NASDAQ:CHFC) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,702,560 shares, an increase of 35.3% from the January 15th total of 1,997,697 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 884,303 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days. Currently, 3.8% of the shares of the company are short sold.

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CHFC. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its position in Chemical Financial by 3,599.7% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 1,042,104 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 1,013,937 shares in the last quarter. Resources Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Chemical Financial during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Doyle Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Chemical Financial during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. JOYN Advisors Inc. grew its position in Chemical Financial by 85.2% during the fourth quarter. JOYN Advisors Inc. now owns 941 shares of the bank’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank acquired a new stake in Chemical Financial during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. 86.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CHFC. Sandler O’Neill upgraded Chemical Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 8th. Zacks Investment Research lowered Chemical Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 4th. Raymond James set a $55.00 target price on Chemical Financial and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Chemical Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 29th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Finally, BidaskClub upgraded Chemical Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Chemical Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.60.

Shares of NASDAQ:CHFC opened at $45.29 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.42. Chemical Financial has a 1 year low of $34.62 and a 1 year high of $59.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Chemical Financial (NASDAQ:CHFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 28th. The bank reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $195.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $200.12 million. Chemical Financial had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 30.57%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Chemical Financial will post 4.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 28th. Chemical Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.52%.

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Chemical Financial Company Profile

Chemical Financial Corporation operates as a financial holding company of Chemical Bank that offers banking and fiduciary products and services to residents and business customers. It offers business and personal checking accounts, savings and individual retirement accounts, time deposit instruments, electronically accessed banking products, residential and commercial real estate financing, commercial lending, consumer financing, debit cards, safe deposit box, money transfer, automated teller machines, insurance and investment products, corporate and personal wealth management, and mortgage banking and other banking services.