Univest Financial Co. (NASDAQ:UVSP) Short Interest Up 21.9% in November

Univest Financial Co. (NASDAQ:UVSP) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 270,500 shares, a growth of 21.9% from the November 15th total of 221,900 shares. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 106,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jeffrey M. Schweitzer sold 4,541 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.75, for a total transaction of $130,553.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 90,187 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,592,876.25. This represents a 4.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael S. Keim sold 3,633 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.76, for a total transaction of $104,485.08. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 55,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,601,328.04. The trade was a 6.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Univest Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Univest Financial by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,210,351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,632,000 after purchasing an additional 12,401 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Univest Financial by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 704,445 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,826,000 after buying an additional 23,770 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Univest Financial by 21.0% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 482,089 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,006,000 after buying an additional 83,599 shares during the last quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA raised its holdings in Univest Financial by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 404,942 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,245,000 after buying an additional 21,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Univest Financial by 57.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 228,321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,425,000 after buying an additional 83,312 shares during the last quarter. 75.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Univest Financial from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th.

Univest Financial Price Performance

Univest Financial stock traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $32.02. 20,727 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 103,623. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $29.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.00. Univest Financial has a twelve month low of $18.41 and a twelve month high of $32.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market cap of $929.96 million, a P/E ratio of 12.82 and a beta of 0.88.

Univest Financial (NASDAQ:UVSP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.07. Univest Financial had a net margin of 14.90% and a return on equity of 8.24%. The company had revenue of $126.59 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $74.11 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.58 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Univest Financial will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Univest Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. Univest Financial’s payout ratio is currently 33.73%.

Univest Financial Company Profile

Univest Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Univest Bank and Trust Co that provides banking products and services primarily in the United States. It operates through three segments: Banking, Wealth Management, and Insurance. The Banking segment offers a range of banking services, such as deposit taking, loan origination and servicing, mortgage banking, other general banking, and equipment lease financing services for individuals, businesses, municipalities, and nonprofit organizations.