ESSA Bancorp (NASDAQ:ESSA) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

Equities researchers at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of ESSA Bancorp (NASDAQ:ESSA) in a research report issued on Tuesday. The firm set a “hold” rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

ESSA Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of ESSA opened at $19.56 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $198.63 million, a PE ratio of 11.24 and a beta of 0.47. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.65. ESSA Bancorp has a 1-year low of $15.82 and a 1-year high of $22.22.

ESSA Bancorp (NASDAQ:ESSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $16.23 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.19 million. ESSA Bancorp had a net margin of 14.83% and a return on equity of 7.27%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FJ Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of ESSA Bancorp by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. FJ Capital Management LLC now owns 967,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,860,000 after buying an additional 25,176 shares during the last quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of ESSA Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,722,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of ESSA Bancorp by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 186,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,641,000 after buying an additional 623 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of ESSA Bancorp by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,361,000 after buying an additional 2,289 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ABC Arbitrage SA purchased a new stake in shares of ESSA Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $985,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.15% of the company’s stock.

ESSA Bancorp Company Profile

ESSA Bancorp, Inc operates as a bank holding company for ESSA Bank & Trust that provides a range of financial services to individuals, families, and businesses in Pennsylvania. The company accepts savings accounts, interest bearing demand accounts, checking accounts, money market accounts, club accounts, certificates of deposit and IRAs, and other qualified plan accounts, as well as commercial checking accounts.