ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:COFS) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:COFS) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 337,600 shares, an increase of 7.9% from the December 31st total of 313,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 31,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 10.7 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ChoiceOne Financial Services

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in ChoiceOne Financial Services by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 8,165 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 611 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of ChoiceOne Financial Services by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 28,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 1,329 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of ChoiceOne Financial Services during the fourth quarter worth $123,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in ChoiceOne Financial Services by 157.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 6,652 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in ChoiceOne Financial Services by 173.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 13,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $412,000 after purchasing an additional 8,463 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.90% of the company’s stock.

ChoiceOne Financial Services Stock Performance

COFS opened at $34.04 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $305.00 million, a P/E ratio of 10.44 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $35.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.36. ChoiceOne Financial Services has a 52-week low of $21.52 and a 52-week high of $38.15.

ChoiceOne Financial Services (NASDAQ:COFS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.01. ChoiceOne Financial Services had a return on equity of 12.44% and a net margin of 19.21%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that ChoiceOne Financial Services will post 3.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ChoiceOne Financial Services Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. This is a boost from ChoiceOne Financial Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. ChoiceOne Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, DA Davidson dropped their target price on ChoiceOne Financial Services from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

About ChoiceOne Financial Services

ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc operates as the bank holding company for ChoiceOne Bank that provides banking services to corporations, partnerships, and individuals in Michigan. The company offers various deposit products, including time, savings, and demand deposits, safe deposit, and automated transaction machine services.