Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY) Short Interest Up 51.3% in January

Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 36,300 shares, a growth of 51.3% from the January 15th total of 24,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 16,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days. Approximately 0.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gary Strong bought 1,000 shares of Oak Valley Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $27.17 per share, with a total value of $27,170.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 11,842 shares in the company, valued at $321,747.14. The trade was a 9.22 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director H Randolph Holder, Jr. bought 2,393 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $25.00 per share, with a total value of $59,825.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 150,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,750,650. The trade was a 1.62 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 9,774 shares of company stock worth $252,527. 19.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On Oak Valley Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of OVLY. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in Oak Valley Bancorp by 190.2% during 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 period. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of Oak Valley Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oak Valley Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth $163,000. Legato Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Oak Valley Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at about $212,000. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 30.86% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Oak Valley Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th.

Oak Valley Bancorp Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of OVLY traded up $0.48 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $28.31. 20,038 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,077. Oak Valley Bancorp has a 12-month low of $22.91 and a 12-month high of $32.24. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $27.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.41. The firm has a market cap of $236.67 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.37 and a beta of 0.33.

Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY - Get Free Report) last issued 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 firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is an increase from Oak Valley Bancorp's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a yield of 1.7%. Oak Valley Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.87%.

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.