Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods Initiates Outperform Rating on Oritani Financial (ORIT)

Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods is out with an analyst note this morning, where they initiate an Outperform Rating on shares of Oritani Financial Corp. ORIT; they have a $17.50 price target on the stock.

KBW analysts noted that Oritani seems to be taking share and successfully resolving their internal problems.

They said, “We are initiating coverage of Oritani Financial Corp. with an Outperform rating due to valuation and a demonstrated ability to actively deploy excess capital in a profitable manner.”

They expect “management to use the proceeds from the upcoming second-step conversion to support strong organic growth prospects, maintain its current dividend policy, and resume share repurchase after year one.”

KBW also noted, “We advocate a market weight position on the regional banks. While fundamentals remain under pressure, with late cycle credit risk, higher regulatory expenses & service charge headwinds, the industry has better access to capital & is now far enough through the credit cycle, given current valuations, in our view.”