Western New England Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:WNEB) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Western New England Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:WNEB) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 54,100 shares, a decline of 19.3% from the December 31st total of 67,000 shares. Approximately 0.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 38,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.4 days.

Western New England Bancorp Trading Up 4.7 %

Shares of WNEB stock opened at $9.30 on Thursday. Western New England Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $6.00 and a fifty-two week high of $10.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.77. The company has a market cap of $195.47 million, a P/E ratio of 17.88 and a beta of 0.70.

Western New England Bancorp (NASDAQ:WNEB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.04. Western New England Bancorp had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 4.58%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.12 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Western New England Bancorp will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Western New England Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be paid a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 12th. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.01%. Western New England Bancorp’s payout ratio is 50.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Darlene M. Libiszewski sold 5,000 shares of Western New England Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.18, for a total value of $45,900.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $147,063.60. The trade was a 23.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 5.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western New England Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WNEB. Fourthstone LLC increased its position in shares of Western New England Bancorp by 372.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 769,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,543,000 after purchasing an additional 606,897 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Western New England Bancorp by 48.8% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 49,236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $419,000 after acquiring an additional 16,158 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Western New England Bancorp by 16.9% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 82,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $702,000 after acquiring an additional 11,936 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Western New England Bancorp by 23.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 44,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $378,000 after acquiring an additional 8,532 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Western New England Bancorp by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 83,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $769,000 after purchasing an additional 4,050 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.95% of the company’s stock.

About Western New England Bancorp

Western New England Bancorp, Inc operates as the holding company for Westfield Bank that provides a range of commercial and retail banking products and services to individuals and businesses. The company accepts various deposit accounts, including interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing checking, commercial checking, business, nonprofit and municipal checking, savings, money market and sweep, individual retirement, and other savings accounts; time deposits; certificates of deposit; and interest on lawyer's trust accounts.