Bancolombia S.A. (NYSE:CIB) Short Interest Up 48.7% in June

Bancolombia S.A. (NYSE:CIB) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 543,700 shares, a growth of 48.7% from the May 31st total of 365,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 290,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Bancolombia by 52.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 214,223 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,613,000 after purchasing an additional 73,656 shares during the period. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Bancolombia during the fourth quarter worth $218,000. Banco BTG Pactual S.A. purchased a new position in Bancolombia during the fourth quarter worth $3,017,000. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new position in Bancolombia during the first quarter valued at $448,000. Finally, Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft purchased a new stake in shares of Bancolombia in the fourth quarter valued at $222,000.

Bancolombia Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CIB traded up $0.47 during trading on Friday, hitting $32.65. The company had a trading volume of 348,896 shares, compared to its average volume of 301,013. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.13 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. Bancolombia has a 12 month low of $24.15 and a 12 month high of $37.85.

Bancolombia (NYSE:CIB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The bank reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. Bancolombia had a net margin of 13.64% and a return on equity of 17.33%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.54 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bancolombia will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Bancolombia Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.898 per share. This represents a $3.59 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.00%. This is a boost from Bancolombia’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 27th. Bancolombia’s dividend payout ratio is 56.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on CIB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Bancolombia from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Bank of America began coverage on Bancolombia in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.12.

Bancolombia Company Profile

Bancolombia SA, together with its subsidiaries, provides banking products and services in Colombia and internationally. The company operates through nine segments: Banking Colombia, Banking Panama, Banking El Salvador, Banking Guatemala, Trust, Investment Banking, Brokerage, International Banking, and All Other.