Chemung Financial Co. (NASDAQ:CHMG) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Chemung Financial Co. (NASDAQ:CHMG) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 29,700 shares, a growth of 80.0% from the May 31st total of 16,500 shares. Currently, 0.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 7,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.2 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CHMG. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in Chemung Financial by 369.5% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,456 shares of the bank’s stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 5,081 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Chemung Financial by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 18,733 shares of the bank’s stock worth $796,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in Chemung Financial by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 25,057 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,063,000 after purchasing an additional 2,011 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Chemung Financial by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 188,331 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,000,000 after purchasing an additional 5,649 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Chemung Financial from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd.

Chemung Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ:CHMG traded up $3.03 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $48.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 66,031 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,425. Chemung Financial has a 52-week low of $36.99 and a 52-week high of $51.36. The company has a market capitalization of $228 million, a PE ratio of 8.61 and a beta of 0.18. The business’s 50-day moving average is $43.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Chemung Financial (NASDAQ:CHMG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The bank reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.40. Chemung Financial had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 17.35%. The business had revenue of $23.75 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.72 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Chemung Financial will post 5.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chemung Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. Chemung Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.75%.

Chemung Financial Company Profile

Chemung Financial Corporation operates as a bank holding company for Chemung Canal Trust Company that provides a range of banking, financing, fiduciary, and other financial services. The company provides demand, savings, and time deposits; non-interest and interest-bearing checking accounts; and insured money market accounts.