Banc Funds Co. LLC Sells 101,000 Shares of ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. $CNOB

Banc Funds Co. LLC lowered its holdings in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNOB) by 29.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 241,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 101,000 shares during the quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC owned 0.48% of ConnectOne Bancorp worth $5,984,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CNOB. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in ConnectOne Bancorp by 76.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,882,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $71,517,000 after purchasing an additional 1,252,614 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in ConnectOne Bancorp by 33.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,160,058 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,870,000 after buying an additional 288,530 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in ConnectOne Bancorp by 24.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 983,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,777,000 after buying an additional 193,692 shares in the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC bought a new position in ConnectOne Bancorp in the third quarter valued at approximately $18,974,000. Finally, Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp by 29.3% in the third quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. now owns 700,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,385,000 after buying an additional 158,672 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CNOB shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ConnectOne Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of ConnectOne Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 10th. Hovde Group reduced their target price on shares of ConnectOne Bancorp from $32.50 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on ConnectOne Bancorp from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.67.

ConnectOne Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of CNOB opened at $25.53 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.61 and a twelve month high of $29.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.02 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a 50 day moving average of $27.08 and a 200-day moving average of $25.96.

ConnectOne Bancorp (NASDAQ:CNOB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.09. ConnectOne Bancorp had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The business had revenue of $114.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $114.80 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConnectOne Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. ConnectOne Bancorp’s payout ratio is 48.00%.

About ConnectOne Bancorp

ConnectOne Bancorp is a New Jersey‐based bank holding company whose primary subsidiary, ConnectOne Bank, offers a suite of commercial banking services to small and medium‐sized businesses, professionals and individuals. Established in 2005 and headquartered in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, the company seeks to deliver customized lending and deposit solutions through a network of branches across northern New Jersey and the New York metropolitan area.

The company’s lending portfolio centers on commercial real estate financing, construction lending, owner‐occupied real estate loans and working capital lines of credit.