German American Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:GABC) Short Interest Up 7.6% in October

German American Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:GABC) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,550,000 shares, a growth of 7.6% from the October 15th total of 1,440,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 76,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 20.3 days.

Institutional Trading of German American Bancorp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in German American Bancorp by 87.1% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 14,069 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $487,000 after buying an additional 6,551 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC increased its stake in German American Bancorp by 186.2% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 2,058 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,339 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of German American Bancorp by 8.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 30,019 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,040,000 after buying an additional 2,326 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of German American Bancorp in the first quarter valued at approximately $6,828,000. Finally, Chatham Capital Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of German American Bancorp by 1.7% in the second quarter. Chatham Capital Group Inc. now owns 50,316 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,779,000 after buying an additional 840 shares during the period. 46.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GABC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James raised their price target on German American Bancorp from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Stephens started coverage on German American Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their price target on German American Bancorp from $34.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com cut German American Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Hovde Group upgraded German American Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.25.

German American Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GABC opened at $45.43 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.40 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $40.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. German American Bancorp has a 1-year low of $27.23 and a 1-year high of $46.75.

German American Bancorp (NASDAQ:GABC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The bank reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $62.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.80 million. German American Bancorp had a net margin of 23.75% and a return on equity of 11.94%. On average, research analysts expect that German American Bancorp will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

German American Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Sunday, November 10th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. German American Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.99%.

About German American Bancorp

German American Bancorp, Inc operates as a financial holding company for German American Bank that provides retail and commercial banking services. The company operates through three segments: Core Banking, Wealth Management Services, and Insurance Operations. The Core Banking segment accepts deposits from the general public; and originates consumer, commercial and agricultural, commercial and agricultural real estate, and residential mortgage loans, as well as sells residential mortgage loans in the secondary market.