CNB Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:CCNE) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

CNB Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:CCNE) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 27th, there was short interest totaling 411,345 shares, a growth of 42.1% from the February 12th total of 289,569 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 148,916 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 148,916 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CCNE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded CNB Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Weiss Ratings upgraded CNB Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Stephens raised their price objective on CNB Financial from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.00.

Institutional Trading of CNB Financial

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in CNB Financial by 38.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,592,950 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $67,858,000 after purchasing an additional 716,917 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CNB Financial by 38.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,572,656 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,058,000 after buying an additional 435,300 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of CNB Financial by 37.8% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,480,034 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $35,817,000 after acquiring an additional 406,167 shares in the last quarter. Davis Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of CNB Financial by 27.7% during the second quarter. Davis Asset Management L.P. now owns 894,033 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,438,000 after acquiring an additional 194,033 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in CNB Financial by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 792,749 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,750,000 after acquiring an additional 34,520 shares during the last quarter. 52.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CNB Financial Price Performance

CCNE stock opened at $27.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $27.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.37. CNB Financial has a 52-week low of $19.32 and a 52-week high of $30.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $799.79 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.16 and a beta of 0.71.

CNB Financial (NASDAQ:CCNE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The bank reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $87.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.10 million. CNB Financial had a return on equity of 11.83% and a net margin of 15.29%. Equities research analysts forecast that CNB Financial will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CNB Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 27th. This is a boost from CNB Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. CNB Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 31.28%.

CNB Financial Company Profile

CNB Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: CCNE) is a bank holding company headquartered in Clearfield, Pennsylvania. The company operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, CNB Bank & Trust, providing a full suite of community banking services. With a focus on relationship-driven banking, CNB Financial seeks to serve individuals, small businesses and agricultural clients across central Pennsylvania.

The company’s core offerings include deposit products such as checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts and certificates of deposit.