Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 20,400 shares, a decline of 22.1% from the February 13th total of 26,200 shares. Approximately 0.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 15,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oak Valley Bancorp

In other Oak Valley Bancorp news, Director Gary Strong acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $27.17 per share, with a total value of $27,170.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 11,842 shares in the company, valued at approximately $321,747.14. This trade represents a 9.22 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director H Randolph Holder, Jr. acquired 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.97 per share, for a total transaction of $155,820.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 147,633 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,834,029.01. This trade represents a 4.24 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 9,924 shares of company stock worth $256,577. 19.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oak Valley Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Oak Valley Bancorp by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 217,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,769,000 after acquiring an additional 842 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Oak Valley Bancorp by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 155,526 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,133,000 after acquiring an additional 3,646 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Oak Valley Bancorp by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 108,971 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,188,000 after acquiring an additional 1,499 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Oak Valley Bancorp by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,295,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares during the period. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Oak Valley Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,726,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 30.86% of the company’s stock.

Oak Valley Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ OVLY traded up $0.07 during trading on Monday, reaching $24.21. 3,585 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,363. The stock has a market cap of $202.33 million, a P/E ratio of 8.02 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $26.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.49. Oak Valley Bancorp has a 1 year low of $23.00 and a 1 year high of $32.24.

Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter. Oak Valley Bancorp had a return on equity of 14.28% and a net margin of 28.03%.

Oak Valley Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is a boost from Oak Valley Bancorp’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a yield of 1.7%. Oak Valley Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 19.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com cut Oak Valley Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th.

About Oak Valley Bancorp

Oak Valley Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Oak Valley Community Bank that provides a range of commercial banking services to individuals and small to medium-sized businesses in the Central Valley and the Eastern Sierras. The company's deposits products include checking and savings, money market, health savings, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit.