Erste Group Bank AG (OTCMKTS:EBKDY) Stock Short Interest Climbs 405.9%

Erste Group Bank AG (OTCMKTS:EBKDY) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totaling 6,931 shares, an increase of 405.9% from the September 30th total of 1,370 shares. Currently, 0.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 121,033 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.1 days.

Erste Group Bank Trading Up 0.6%

Erste Group Bank stock opened at $58.44 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $45.39 billion, a PE ratio of 11.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $67.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.77. Erste Group Bank has a 52 week low of $48.38 and a 52 week high of $73.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

Erste Group Bank (OTCMKTS:EBKDY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.48 billion. Erste Group Bank had a net margin of 18.39% and a return on equity of 10.22%. Equities research analysts predict that Erste Group Bank will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on EBKDY shares. Oddo Bhf raised shares of Erste Group Bank from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Erste Group Bank from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Erste Group Bank in a report on Monday, July 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Erste Group Bank to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Erste Group Bank in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Erste Group Bank has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

About Erste Group Bank

Erste Group Bank AG is an Austria-based financial services group that provides banking and related services to retail customers, small and medium-sized businesses, corporations, public-sector organizations and institutional clients. Its offerings include deposit accounts, consumer and mortgage lending, business finance, payment services, investment products, securities trading and wealth management.

Founded in 1819 as Erste österreichische Spar-Casse, the group has developed into one of Central and Eastern Europe’s major banking organizations.