Short Interest in ECB Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECBK) Expands By 13.0%

ECB Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECBK) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,700 shares, an increase of 13.0% from the May 15th total of 7,700 shares. Currently, 0.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 5,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.6 days.

ECB Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of ECB Bancorp stock traded down $0.26 on Tuesday, hitting $12.37. The company had a trading volume of 402 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,587. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.32. The company has a market cap of $114.05 million, a PE ratio of 25.78 and a beta of 0.79. ECB Bancorp has a 52 week low of $9.82 and a 52 week high of $13.63.

ECB Bancorp (NASDAQ:ECBK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $6.21 million during the quarter. ECB Bancorp had a net margin of 7.01% and a return on equity of 2.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Paul A. Delory sold 5,052 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.52, for a total transaction of $58,199.04. Following the sale, the director now owns 12,212 shares in the company, valued at $140,682.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other ECB Bancorp news, Director Paul A. Delory sold 5,052 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.52, for a total value of $58,199.04. Following the sale, the director now owns 12,212 shares in the company, valued at $140,682.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO John A. Citrano purchased 4,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $12.21 per share, for a total transaction of $58,608.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 44,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $539,694.21. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 6,100 shares of company stock worth $74,231 over the last quarter. 6.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ECB Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sachetta LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ECB Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,345,000. Grimes & Company Inc. lifted its position in shares of ECB Bancorp by 28.6% in the 4th quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $251,000 after acquiring an additional 4,445 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Minerva Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ECB Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 30.27% of the company’s stock.

ECB Bancorp Company Profile

ECB Bancorp, Inc operating as a holding company for Everett Co-operative Bank that provides various banking products and services. The company accepts various deposit products, including certificate of deposit accounts, IRAs, money market accounts, savings accounts, demand deposit accounts, and interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing checking accounts.