Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD) Short Interest Down 27.0% in March

Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD - Get Free Report) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,600 shares, a decline of 27.0% from the February 28th total of 6,300 shares. Approximately 0.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 4,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.1 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Hovde Group lowered Finward Bancorp from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th.

Finward Bancorp Price Performance

FNWD traded down $0.16 during trading on Thursday, reaching $28.94. 4,288 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,961. The company has a market cap of $124.85 million, a P/E ratio of 10.23 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. Finward Bancorp has a 12-month low of $23.50 and a 12-month high of $33.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.37.

Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.31. Finward Bancorp had a net margin of 10.85% and a return on equity of 7.91%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Finward Bancorp will post 0.9 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Finward Bancorp

In other news, Director Carolyn M. Burke bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $26.80 per share, for a total transaction of $26,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 1,000 shares in the company, valued at $26,800. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Robert W. Youman bought 1,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $27.76 per share, with a total value of $38,864.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 22,773 shares in the company, valued at $632,178.48. This trade represents a 6.55 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders purchased 6,472 shares of company stock worth $174,563. 13.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Finward Bancorp

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Finward Bancorp by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,021 shares of the company's stock valued at $422,000 after buying an additional 4,098 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Finward Bancorp by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 17,641 shares of the company's stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 1,393 shares during the last quarter. Finward Bancorp purchased a new position in shares of Finward Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $4,175,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Finward Bancorp by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 344,926 shares of the company's stock worth $9,696,000 after purchasing an additional 33,036 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC purchased a new stake in Finward Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at $221,000. 26.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Finward Bancorp Company Profile

Finward Bancorp operates as the holding company for Peoples Bank that provides various banking products and services. The company's deposit products include non-interest- and interest-bearing demand accounts, savings accounts, money market deposit accounts, certificate accounts, and retirement savings plans.