StockNews.com Lowers FS Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSBW) to Hold

StockNews.com downgraded shares of FS Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSBW) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning.

Separately, DA Davidson upped their price objective on FS Bancorp from $34.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th.

FS Bancorp Trading Down 2.5 %

FSBW stock opened at $43.63 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $43.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.18. FS Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $28.07 and a fifty-two week high of $47.01. The firm has a market cap of $340.14 million, a PE ratio of 9.53 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.08.

FS Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSBW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $53.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.10 million. FS Bancorp had a net margin of 18.05% and a return on equity of 13.40%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that FS Bancorp will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FS Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. FS Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.58%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FS Bancorp

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FSBW. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,376 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of FS Bancorp by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 395,126 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,401,000 after acquiring an additional 3,811 shares during the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. boosted its holdings in FS Bancorp by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 290,242 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,579,000 after acquiring an additional 1,706 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in FS Bancorp by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 61,221 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,231,000 after acquiring an additional 2,761 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,275 shares during the period. 63.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.