Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 25,800 shares, an increase of 26.5% from the February 28th total of 20,400 shares. Approximately 0.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 14,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director H Randolph Holder, Jr. bought 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.97 per share, with a total value of $155,820.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 147,633 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,834,029.01. This represents a 4.24 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gary Strong purchased 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $27.17 per share, for a total transaction of $27,170.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 11,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $321,747.14. This represents a 9.22 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 10,202 shares of company stock worth $264,377. Company insiders own 19.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Oak Valley Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its position in Oak Valley Bancorp by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 217,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,769,000 after purchasing an additional 842 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Oak Valley Bancorp by 0.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,295,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Oak Valley Bancorp by 122.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 15,368 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $408,000 after acquiring an additional 8,471 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Oak Valley Bancorp by 2.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 155,526 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,133,000 after acquiring an additional 3,646 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Oak Valley Bancorp by 123.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,755 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $286,000 after purchasing an additional 5,945 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 30.86% of the company’s stock.

Oak Valley Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ OVLY opened at $25.70 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $214.83 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.51 and a beta of 0.28. Oak Valley Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $23.00 and a fifty-two week high of $32.24. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.38.

Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter. Oak Valley Bancorp had a return on equity of 14.28% and a net margin of 28.03%.

Oak Valley Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.30 dividend. This is a positive change from Oak Valley Bancorp’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a dividend yield of 1.7%. Oak Valley Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Oak Valley Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday.

About Oak Valley Bancorp

Oak Valley Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Oak Valley Community Bank that provides a range of commercial banking services to individuals and small to medium-sized businesses in the Central Valley and the Eastern Sierras. The company's deposits products include checking and savings, money market, health savings, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit.