FS Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSBW) Short Interest Up 27.2% in June

FS Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSBW) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 22,000 shares, a growth of 27.2% from the May 31st total of 17,300 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 11,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.

FS Bancorp Stock Down 4.1 %

FSBW stock opened at $34.94 on Tuesday. FS Bancorp has a 52-week low of $28.07 and a 52-week high of $38.70. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $272.39 million, a P/E ratio of 7.63 and a beta of 0.94.

FS Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSBW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The bank reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $35.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.05 million. FS Bancorp had a net margin of 18.69% and a return on equity of 14.17%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that FS Bancorp will post 4.21 EPS for the current year.

FS Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 9th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 8th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. FS Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.71%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in FS Bancorp by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 7,734 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in FS Bancorp by 64.5% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,288 shares of the bank’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its position in FS Bancorp by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,338 shares of the bank’s stock worth $604,000 after acquiring an additional 1,436 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in FS Bancorp by 8.1% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 30,437 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,056,000 after acquiring an additional 2,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in FS Bancorp by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 403,704 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,013,000 after acquiring an additional 2,376 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of FS Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st.

About FS Bancorp

FS Bancorp, Inc operates as a bank holding company for 1st Security Bank of Washington that provides banking and financial services to local families, local and regional businesses, and industry niches. The company operates in two segments, Commercial and Consumer Banking; and Home Lending. It offers various deposit instruments, including checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit.