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

Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:BWFG - Get Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 92,900 shares, a drop 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 presently 6.2 days. Currently, 1.6% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Bankwell Financial Group Trading Down 1.3 %

BWFG stock traded down $0.41 during trading on Friday, hitting $32.25. The company had a trading volume of 24,830 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,587. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $29.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.00. The stock has a market cap of $253.49 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54 and a beta of 0.83. Bankwell Financial Group has a 12 month low of $22.47 and a 12 month high of $33.17. 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 (NASDAQ:BWFG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The bank reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.08) by $0.32. Bankwell Financial Group had a return on equity of 5.74% and a net margin of 7.77%. The business had revenue of $49.35 million during the quarter.

Bankwell Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.48%. Bankwell Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is 41.03%.

Insider Activity

In other Bankwell Financial Group news, EVP Christine Chivily sold 1,815 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.88, for a total transaction of $50,602.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,449 shares in the company, valued at $402,838.12. This represents a 11.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 19.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BWFG. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in Bankwell Financial Group by 119.9% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,901 shares of the bank's stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 1,582 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bankwell Financial Group by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 17,444 shares of the bank's stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bankwell Financial Group by 0.6% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Bankwell Financial Group by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 28,548 shares of the bank's stock valued at $724,000 after purchasing an additional 1,676 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Bankwell Financial Group by 42.3% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,875 shares of the bank's stock worth $124,000 after acquiring an additional 1,449 shares during the last quarter. 35.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.