Short Interest in Erste Group Bank AG (OTCMKTS:EBKDY) Grows By 769.5%

Erste Group Bank AG (OTCMKTS:EBKDY) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totaling 20,990 shares, a growth of 769.5% from the April 15th total of 2,414 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 79,611 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.3 days. Currently, 0.0% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Erste Group Bank Trading Down 1.0%

Erste Group Bank stock traded down $0.58 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $57.27. 2,588 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 95,810. Erste Group Bank has a 1-year low of $39.57 and a 1-year high of $66.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $56.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.53. The stock has a market cap of $44.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.84.

Erste Group Bank (OTCMKTS:EBKDY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. Erste Group Bank had a return on equity of 10.96% and a net margin of 19.27%. As a group, research analysts predict that Erste Group Bank will post 5.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EBKDY. Citigroup raised Erste Group Bank to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Erste Group Bank in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Erste Group Bank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Erste Group Bank presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

About Erste Group Bank

Erste Group Bank AG is an Austrian banking group headquartered in Vienna that operates as a universal bank serving retail, corporate and institutional customers. The group offers a broad range of financial services including deposit-taking, lending, mortgage financing, payment and transaction banking, and wealth management. Erste Group also provides capital markets services, corporate and investment banking solutions, and a range of insurance and pension-linked products through partnerships and subsidiary operations.

Erste Group maintains a significant regional presence beyond Austria, with operations across several Central and Eastern European countries.