BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCBP) Short Interest Up 25.7% in March

BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCBP) saw a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 120,800 shares, a growth of 25.7% from the February 28th total of 96,100 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 55,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days. Approximately 0.8% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Trading of BCB Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in shares of BCB Bancorp by 5.1% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 15,669 shares of the bank’s stock worth $193,000 after acquiring an additional 767 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its holdings in BCB Bancorp by 27.8% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 8,763 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 1,907 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in BCB Bancorp by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 369,315 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,373,000 after purchasing an additional 1,912 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in BCB Bancorp by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,022 shares of the bank’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,092 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of BCB Bancorp by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 43,673 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $517,000 after buying an additional 2,631 shares during the last quarter. 36.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BCB Bancorp Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BCBP opened at $9.86 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $169.23 million, a PE ratio of 10.06 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79. BCB Bancorp has a 12-month low of $9.19 and a 12-month high of $14.04. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.66.

BCB Bancorp (NASDAQ:BCBP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.13). BCB Bancorp had a net margin of 9.46% and a return on equity of 6.33%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BCB Bancorp will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCB Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.49%. BCB Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BCBP. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of BCB Bancorp from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of BCB Bancorp from $15.00 to $13.75 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th.

About BCB Bancorp

BCB Bancorp, Inc operates as a bank holding company for BCB Community Bank that engages in the provision of banking products and services to businesses and individuals in the United States. The company offers insured deposit products, including savings and club accounts, interest and non-interest-bearing demand accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts.