Teacher Retirement System of Texas Increases Stake in Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in Amalgamated Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:AMAL) by 40.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,791 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,329 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Amalgamated Financial were worth $1,667,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in Amalgamated Financial by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 46,420 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,456,000 after purchasing an additional 5,885 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Amalgamated Financial by 219.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 162,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,083,000 after buying an additional 111,357 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Amalgamated Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $388,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in shares of Amalgamated Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amalgamated Financial by 198.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 35,663 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,119,000 after acquiring an additional 23,697 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMAL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Amalgamated Financial from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler cut shares of Amalgamated Financial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, February 21st.

Amalgamated Financial Price Performance

AMAL stock opened at $29.43 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $903.12 million, a PE ratio of 8.53 and a beta of 0.93. Amalgamated Financial Corp. has a 12-month low of $21.33 and a 12-month high of $38.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $32.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.41.

Amalgamated Financial (NASDAQ:AMAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.03. Amalgamated Financial had a return on equity of 16.49% and a net margin of 24.50%. As a group, research analysts predict that Amalgamated Financial Corp. will post 3.65 EPS for the current year.

Amalgamated Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This is a positive change from Amalgamated Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Amalgamated Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.23%.

Amalgamated Financial declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, March 10th that permits the company to buyback $40.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Amalgamated Financial

In related news, major shareholder States Regional Joint Western sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.27, for a total value of $616,860.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,167,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $245,641,054.32. This trade represents a 0.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Tyrone Graham sold 3,317 shares of Amalgamated Financial stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.50, for a total transaction of $101,168.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $349,194.50. This represents a 22.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 30,916 shares of company stock valued at $1,035,526. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Amalgamated Financial

Amalgamated Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Amalgamated Bank that provides commercial and retail banking, investment management, and trust and custody services for commercial and retail customers in the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, including non-interest bearing accounts, interest-bearing demand products, savings accounts, money market accounts, NOW accounts, and certificates of deposit.