Charter Financial (CHFN) Lifted to Buy at ValuEngine

ValuEngine upgraded shares of Charter Financial (NASDAQ:CHFN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Thursday morning.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. BidaskClub upgraded shares of Charter Financial from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Saturday, April 28th. Sandler O’Neill downgraded shares of Charter Financial from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $24.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, April 27th.

Charter Financial opened at $24.83 on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The firm has a market capitalization of $376.64 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.14 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Charter Financial has a 52 week low of $15.81 and a 52 week high of $25.64.

Charter Financial (NASDAQ:CHFN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.34. The business had revenue of $19.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.22 million. Charter Financial had a net margin of 19.24% and a return on equity of 6.92%.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 10th were paid a dividend of $0.085 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 9th. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. This is an increase from Charter Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Charter Financial’s payout ratio is presently 35.79%.

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CHFN. MetLife Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Charter Financial during the first quarter worth $127,000. Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Charter Financial by 3,041.2% during the fourth quarter. Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. now owns 7,319 shares of the bank’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 7,086 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Charter Financial during the fourth quarter worth $166,000. AXA acquired a new position in shares of Charter Financial during the fourth quarter worth $247,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Charter Financial by 42.4% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 20,308 shares of the bank’s stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 6,051 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.56% of the company’s stock.

Charter Financial Company Profile

Charter Financial Corporation operates as the holding company for CharterBank, a federally-chartered savings bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals and businesses in the United States. The company's deposit products include checking, money market, regular savings, and term certificate accounts, as well as noninterest-bearing demand deposits.

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