Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:BWFG) Short Interest Update

Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:BWFG) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 92,900 shares, a decrease of 12.4% from the October 15th total of 106,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 14,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.2 days. Approximately 1.6% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Christine Chivily sold 1,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.88, for a total value of $50,602.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $402,838.12. This trade represents a 11.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 19.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BWFG. Fourthstone LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bankwell Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $776,000. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Bankwell Financial Group by 47.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 20,781 shares of the bank’s stock worth $623,000 after acquiring an additional 6,710 shares in the last quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Bankwell Financial Group by 7.7% in the second quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 89,154 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,262,000 after purchasing an additional 6,341 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Bankwell Financial Group by 3.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 147,342 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,413,000 after purchasing an additional 5,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bankwell Financial Group by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 329,246 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,541,000 after purchasing an additional 1,933 shares during the period. 35.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bankwell Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BWFG traded down $0.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $32.25. The company had a trading volume of 24,830 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,500. The firm has a market cap of $253.49 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. Bankwell Financial Group has a one year low of $22.47 and a one year high of $33.17. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.00.

Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The bank reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $49.35 million for the quarter. Bankwell Financial Group had a return on equity of 5.74% and a net margin of 7.77%.

Bankwell Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.48%. Bankwell Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Bankwell Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th.

About Bankwell Financial Group

Bankwell Financial Group, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Bankwell Bank that provides various banking services for individual and commercial customers. It offers various traditional depository products, including checking, savings, money market, and certificates of deposit. The company also provides first mortgage loans secured by one-to-four family owner occupied residential properties for personal use; home equity loans and home equity lines of credit secured by owner occupied one-to-four family residential properties; loans secured by commercial real estate, multi-family dwellings, owner-occupied commercial real estate, and investor-owned one-to-four family dwellings; commercial construction loans for commercial development projects, including apartment buildings and condominiums, as well as office buildings, retail, and other income producing properties; land loans; commercial business loans secured by assignments of corporate assets and personal guarantees of the business owners; loans to finance insurance premiums; overdraft lines of credit; and unsecured personal loans.