The banking analyst the biz media love to quote

Andrew Osterland of Financial Week writes about bank analyst Richard Bove, who has become quite the quote hound in the business press.

Osterland wrote, “Mr. Bove’s willingness to make such calls has made him one of the more sought-after bank analysts, especially in the business journalism community. (A Factiva search shows Mr. Bove cited in 240 stories in major media outlets in 2007, up from 177 in 2006. He’s been quoted another 117 times so far in 2008.) Institutional investors regularly rate the 35-year veteran of the field as one of the most influential banking analysts in the market.

“Not bad, considering Mr. Bove plies his trade from the modest platform of Punk Ziegel & Co., a small New York City investment bank that was recently bought by crosstown financial services firm Ladenburg Thalmann.

“A couple of weeks ago, Mr. Bove issued a memo to media representatives stating that he would no longer make his research available to them or return calls to reporters because on ‘news days’ he was routinely fielding 30 calls or more from the media. Fortunately, Mr. Bove made some time to discuss his recent change of heart on the banks with Financial Week.”

Read more here.Â