Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc (NYSE:SMFG) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc (NYSE:SMFG) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 6,088,105 shares, an increase of 47.0% from the February 26th total of 4,141,499 shares. Approximately 0.1% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,720,547 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on SMFG. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Institutional Trading of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL grew its holdings in Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group by 112.5% during the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 927,179 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,521,000 after purchasing an additional 490,891 shares during the period. Factory Mutual Insurance Co. bought a new stake in shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group in the third quarter valued at $3,164,000. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group by 67.4% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 424,283 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,102,000 after buying an additional 170,789 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,036,709 shares of the bank’s stock worth $34,095,000 after acquiring an additional 294,124 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group by 72.7% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 101,571 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,700,000 after acquiring an additional 42,766 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 3.85% of the company’s stock.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group stock traded down $0.34 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $19.06. 1,920,551 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,420,332. The stock has a market cap of $121.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.88, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $21.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.94. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group has a 12 month low of $11.83 and a 12 month high of $24.33.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (NYSE:SMFG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The bank reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.24). Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group had a net margin of 13.81% and a return on equity of 9.38%. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.93 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group will post 0.39 earnings per share for the current year.

About Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc (SMFG) is a Tokyo-based financial holding company that provides a broad range of banking and financial services through a network of domestic and international subsidiaries. Established in 2002 as a holding company for the Sumitomo Mitsui banking operations, SMFG’s core banking business is conducted primarily through its main operating bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), alongside other affiliates covering trust banking, securities, leasing and consumer finance.

The group’s product and service mix spans corporate and commercial banking, retail deposit and loan services, trade and project finance, cash management, syndicated lending, foreign exchange and treasury services, and capital markets and investment banking activities through its securities arm.