Flushing Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FFIC) Short Interest Down 9.5% in September

Flushing Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FFIC) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 635,100 shares, a decline of 9.5% from the September 15th total of 701,400 shares. Approximately 2.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 165,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.8 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Maria A. Grasso sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.49, for a total value of $60,705.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 83,238 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,122,880.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 6.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Flushing Financial by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,609,430 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,295,000 after acquiring an additional 5,933 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its stake in shares of Flushing Financial by 0.9% in the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 1,209,250 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,249,000 after purchasing an additional 11,285 shares during the last quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Flushing Financial by 11.5% in the second quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 453,198 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,960,000 after purchasing an additional 46,800 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Flushing Financial by 16.1% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 452,209 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,947,000 after buying an additional 62,659 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Flushing Financial by 38.1% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 370,758 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,874,000 after buying an additional 102,219 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FFIC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Flushing Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Piper Sandler lowered Flushing Financial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $15.00 to $16.50 in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Flushing Financial from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Flushing Financial from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Flushing Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.50.

Flushing Financial Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIC traded up $0.05 during trading on Thursday, reaching $15.64. The stock had a trading volume of 300,947 shares, compared to its average volume of 178,771. Flushing Financial has a 52 week low of $10.74 and a 52 week high of $18.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $14.11 and its 200 day moving average is $13.26. The stock has a market cap of $454.64 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.64 and a beta of 0.76.

Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The bank reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.18. The company had revenue of $117.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $46.96 million. Flushing Financial had a return on equity of 3.96% and a net margin of 5.84%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Flushing Financial will post 0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flushing Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.63%. Flushing Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.00%.

Flushing Financial Company Profile

Flushing Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Flushing Bank that provides banking products and services primarily to consumers, businesses, and governmental units. It offers various deposit products, including checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, non-interest bearing demand accounts, NOW accounts, and certificates of deposit.