Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) Hits New 1-Year High on Insider Buying Activity

Shares of Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday after an insider bought additional shares in the company. The company traded as high as $9.76 and last traded at $9.6550, with a volume of 330763 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.45.

Specifically, Director Curtland E. Fields bought 14,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $9.41 per share, for a total transaction of $138,327.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 57,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $544,839. This trade represents a 34.03% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KRNY has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Kearny Financial from $9.50 to $10.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Zacks Research raised shares of Kearny Financial to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Kearny Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.50.

Kearny Financial Stock Up 2.1%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $8.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $8.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $624.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.92 and a beta of 0.64.

Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.02). Kearny Financial had a return on equity of 4.92% and a net margin of 10.45%.The firm had revenue of $45.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.61 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Kearny Financial will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kearny Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 12th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. Kearny Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.19%.

Institutional Trading of Kearny Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KRNY. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Kearny Financial by 4.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,348,893 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $22,002,000 after purchasing an additional 133,683 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Kearny Financial by 36.4% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,023,294 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $14,993,000 after acquiring an additional 539,811 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its stake in Kearny Financial by 488.8% during the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,612,987 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $11,952,000 after acquiring an additional 1,339,062 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Kearny Financial by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,437,222 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $10,851,000 after acquiring an additional 81,050 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Kearny Financial by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,206,855 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $7,796,000 after purchasing an additional 27,460 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Kearny Financial Company Profile

Kearny Financial, Inc was the bank holding company for Kearny Bank, a New Jersey–based community bank offering a full suite of commercial and consumer banking services. Through its subsidiary, the company provided deposit products, lending facilities and electronic banking solutions to individuals, small businesses and middle-market corporations.

The company’s core products included checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial real estate loans, construction financing, equipment financing, home equity lines of credit and consumer installment loans.