Cadence Bank (NYSE:CADE) Short Interest Up 6.8% in December

Cadence Bank (NYSE:CADE) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,520,000 shares, an increase of 6.8% from the November 30th total of 5,170,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,230,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.5 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on CADE. Barclays raised Cadence Bank from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $41.00 to $44.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Cadence Bank from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson increased their price target on Cadence Bank from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Cadence Bank from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Cadence Bank from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $36.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.32.

Institutional Trading of Cadence Bank

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CADE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Cadence Bank by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,825,909 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,874,000 after purchasing an additional 593,878 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Cadence Bank in the 3rd quarter valued at $11,727,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Cadence Bank by 16.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,083,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,360,000 after purchasing an additional 291,885 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its position in Cadence Bank by 21.7% during the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 1,331,112 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,396,000 after purchasing an additional 237,748 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in Cadence Bank by 1.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,423,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $523,074,000 after purchasing an additional 195,773 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Cadence Bank Price Performance

Cadence Bank stock opened at $34.45 on Thursday. Cadence Bank has a 1 year low of $24.99 and a 1 year high of $40.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.90 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50-day moving average of $36.27 and a 200-day moving average of $32.71.

Cadence Bank (NYSE:CADE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $447.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $450.97 million. Cadence Bank had a net margin of 25.99% and a return on equity of 8.95%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Cadence Bank will post 2.71 EPS for the current year.

Cadence Bank Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Cadence Bank’s payout ratio is 28.74%.

About Cadence Bank

Cadence Bank provides commercial banking and financial services. Its products and services include consumer banking, consumer loans, mortgages, home equity lines and loans, credit cards, commercial and business banking, treasury management, specialized and asset-based lending, commercial real estate, equipment financing, and correspondent banking services.