Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning.

Oak Valley Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:OVLY opened at $24.33 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $26.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.37 million, a PE ratio of 8.06 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.

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

Oak Valley Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. 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%.

Insider Transactions at Oak Valley Bancorp

In other news, Director Gary Strong acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $27.17 per share, with a total value of $27,170.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 11,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $321,747.14. This trade represents a 9.22 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director H Randolph Holder, Jr. acquired 2,393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $25.00 per share, with a total value of $59,825.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 150,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,750,650. This trade represents a 1.62 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 9,924 shares of company stock valued at $256,577 over the last 90 days. 19.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 510 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in Oak Valley Bancorp by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 9,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $281,000 after buying an additional 803 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Oak Valley Bancorp by 0.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 217,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,769,000 after buying an additional 842 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in Oak Valley Bancorp by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 8,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $234,000 after buying an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in Oak Valley Bancorp by 190.2% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 987 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 30.86% of the company’s stock.

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.