Kearny Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:KRNY) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Kearny Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:KRNY - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 420,000 shares, an increase of 6.6% from the December 15th total of 394,100 shares. Approximately 0.7% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 360,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.2 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kearny Financial

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Kearny Financial by 2.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 391,352 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $2,407,000 after buying an additional 10,220 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in Kearny Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $133,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Kearny Financial by 124.5% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 177,805 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $1,094,000 after purchasing an additional 98,598 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kearny Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in Kearny Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $149,000. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company's stock.

Kearny Financial Stock Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ KRNY traded up $0.06 on Friday, hitting $7.23. 182,701 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 342,359. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $7.66 and a 200 day moving average of $7.07. Kearny Financial has a twelve month low of $5.28 and a twelve month high of $8.59. The company has a market capitalization of $466.91 million, a P/E ratio of -4.99 and a beta of 0.82.

Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.10. Kearny Financial had a positive return on equity of 3.05% and a negative net margin of 27.43%. The business had revenue of $87.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.16 EPS.

Kearny Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.09%. Kearny Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -30.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on KRNY shares. Piper Sandler raised shares of Kearny Financial from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $9.00 to $8.50 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Kearny Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, October 28th.

About Kearny Financial

Kearny Financial Corp. operates as the holding company for Kearny Bank that provides various banking products and services in the United States. It offers various deposit products, including interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit accounts.