Analysts at Sterne Agee started coverage on shares of Beneficial Mutual Bancorp (NASDAQ:BNCL) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, StockRatingsNetwork reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $15.00 price target on the stock. Sterne Agee’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 9.97% from the company’s current price.
The analysts wrote, “We initiate with a Buy rating and a $15.00 price target, representing 1.1x market-adjusted fully-converted TB (FCTB). BNCL offers investors a unique opportunity to invest in a well-capitalized, 160+ year old, $5 billion-asset sized, Philadelphia-based bank, at a discount to fully-converted tangible book value. The key to the investment thesis sits in understanding the MHC (Mutual Holding Company) structure and the potential implications for existing shareholders in the event of a second-step IPO. ” We base our valuation on a blended five-pronged approach: 1) Franchise footprint (including acquisition track record and sensitivity to TB dilution); 2) Current pricing relative to peers (with added emphasis on the P/TB metric for the over-capitalized banks); 3) Credit; 4) Capital (including use of capital management tools); and 5) Management expertise (including inside ownership).”
Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Analysts at Compass Point initiated coverage on shares of Beneficial Mutual Bancorp in a research note on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $15.00 price target on the stock. Separately, analysts at Zacks downgraded shares of Beneficial Mutual Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. They now have a $13.40 price target on the stock. Finally, analysts at Zacks upgraded shares of Beneficial Mutual Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. They now have a $12.80 price target on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. The stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.23.
Beneficial Mutual Bancorp (NASDAQ:BNCL) opened at 13.64 on Thursday. Beneficial Mutual Bancorp has a one year low of $8.36 and a one year high of $14.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $11.98 and its 200-day moving average is $10.64. The company has a market cap of $1.024 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.17.
Beneficial Mutual Bancorp (NASDAQ:BNCL) last released its earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.01. Analysts expect that Beneficial Mutual Bancorp will post $0.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.
In other Beneficial Mutual Bancorp news, CEO Gerard Cuddy unloaded 10,000 shares of the company’s stock on the open market in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.10, for a total value of $131,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 28,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $370,730. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.
Beneficial Mutual Bancorp, Inc is a savings and loan holding company. The Company’s business activities are the ownership of Beneficial Bank (NASDAQ:BNCL).
This article (Beneficial Mutual Bancorp Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Sterne Agee (BNCL)) was originally developed by and is property of American Banking News.
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