Why This Old National Bancorp Analyst Is Turning Bullish

Cost savings from Old National Bancorp’s ONB deal to merge with First Midwest Bancorp should be accretive to the bottom line “following the systems conversion in July,” according to Stephens.

The Old National Bancorp Analyst: Terry McEvoy upgraded Old National Bancorp from Equal-Weight to Overweight while establishing a price target of $19.

The Old National Bancorp Takeaways: The stock has lost around 15% year to date, which is surprising given the first-quarter results and “management's positive tone around the deal and financial outlook on the conference call,” McEvoy said in the upgrade note.

“Near-term loan growth should be solid as pipelines were up ~20% at the end of 1Q22 vs. the prior quarter,” the analyst added.

“Our initial concerns around commercial banker attrition in Chicago were overstated,” McEvoy wrote. “Given the company's M&A track record, we have a high level of conviction in Old National's ability to hit the cost savings goal ($109),” he added.

ONB Price Action: Shares of Old National Bancorp were trading 0.45% higher at $15.49 Friday afternoon, according to Benzinga Pro.