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Strength Seen in Origin Bancorp (OBK): Can Its 5.3% Jump Turn into More Strength?

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Origin Bancorp (OBK - Free Report) shares ended the last trading session 5.3% higher at $35.32. The jump came on an impressive volume with a higher-than-average number of shares changing hands in the session. This compares to the stock's 1.5% gain over the past four weeks.

The Federal Reserve signaled the end of the current rate hike cycle and kept the interest rates unchanged at a 22-year high of 5.25-5.5% at the end of the two-day FOMC meeting. Further, the central bank indicated three interest rate cuts by 2024 end. These developments turned investor sentiments bullish on bank stocks as high funding costs will somewhat come down next year, thus supporting spread income and margin. Also, going forward, such monetary easing is likely to propel consumer spending. Hence, the Origin Bancorp stock moved higher.

This bank holding company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.63 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -33.7%. Revenues are expected to be $95.55 million, down 2.7% from the year-ago quarter.

Earnings and revenue growth expectations certainly give a good sense of the potential strength in a stock, but empirical research shows that trends in earnings estimate revisions are strongly correlated with near-term stock price movements.

For Origin Bancorp, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. And a stock's price usually doesn't keep moving higher in the absence of any trend in earnings estimate revisions. So, make sure to keep an eye on OBK going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road.

The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>

Origin Bancorp is a member of the Zacks Banks - Southeast industry. One other stock in the same industry, Community Trust Bancorp (CTBI - Free Report) , finished the last trading session 5.2% higher at $43.89. CTBI has returned 0.9% over the past month.

Community Trust Bancorp's consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at $1.08. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of -14.3%. Community Trust Bancorp currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).


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