Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:BWFG) Short Interest Up 10.5% in January

Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:BWFG) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 103,000 shares, an increase of 10.5% from the December 31st total of 93,200 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 15,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.6 days. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Transactions at Bankwell Financial Group

In other news, Director Kevin D. Leitao bought 2,000 shares of Bankwell Financial Group stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $30.38 per share, with a total value of $60,760.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $136,710. This trade represents a 80.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Steven H. Brunner sold 1,330 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.98, for a total transaction of $43,863.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,005.96. This trade represents a 30.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 4,975 shares of company stock valued at $157,977. Corporate insiders own 19.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Bankwell Financial Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bankwell Financial Group by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 20,560 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $640,000 after purchasing an additional 918 shares in the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bankwell Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth $624,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Bankwell Financial Group by 164.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,638 shares of the bank’s stock worth $349,000 after acquiring an additional 7,238 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Bankwell Financial Group by 47.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 20,781 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $623,000 after acquiring an additional 6,710 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 during the period. 35.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Bankwell Financial Group from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Bankwell Financial Group Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of BWFG traded down $0.17 during trading on Monday, reaching $31.02. 9,804 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,572. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Bankwell Financial Group has a twelve month low of $22.47 and a twelve month high of $35.25. The stock has a market cap of $243.75 million, a PE ratio of 26.28 and a beta of 0.88.

Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.33). Bankwell Financial Group had a net margin of 4.76% and a return on equity of 3.48%.

Bankwell Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. Bankwell Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.80%.

Bankwell Financial Group Company Profile

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.