Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 75,000 Shares of ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNOB)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNOB) by 46.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 85,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 75,000 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in ConnectOne Bancorp were worth $1,658,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in ConnectOne Bancorp by 27.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,500,507 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,414,000 after buying an additional 743,209 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in ConnectOne Bancorp by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,270,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,009,000 after buying an additional 58,277 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in ConnectOne Bancorp by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,045,578 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,473,000 after buying an additional 14,564 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in ConnectOne Bancorp by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 438,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,039,000 after buying an additional 41,010 shares during the period. Finally, Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its holdings in ConnectOne Bancorp by 118.2% in the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 246,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,641,000 after buying an additional 133,384 shares during the period. 67.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNOB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target (down from $24.00) on shares of ConnectOne Bancorp in a research note on Friday, May 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of ConnectOne Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ConnectOne Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.00.

ConnectOne Bancorp Stock Up 3.6 %

CNOB stock traded up $0.64 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $18.58. 63,538 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 162,417. The company has a market cap of $712.17 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.79 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $18.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $14.51 and a 52 week high of $24.44.

ConnectOne Bancorp (NASDAQ:CNOB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $64.15 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.93 million. ConnectOne Bancorp had a net margin of 15.29% and a return on equity of 7.39%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConnectOne Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This is an increase from ConnectOne Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. ConnectOne Bancorp’s payout ratio is 38.10%.

ConnectOne Bancorp Company Profile

ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for ConnectOne Bank that provides commercial banking products and services for small and mid-sized businesses, local professionals, and individuals in the New York Metropolitan area and South Florida market. The company offers personal and business checking, money market, and time and savings accounts; credit cards, wire transfers, safe deposit boxes, automated teller services and telephone, and internet and mobile banking.