Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 131,661 Shares of Flushing Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FFIC)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Flushing Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FFIC - Free Report) by 743.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 149,373 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 131,661 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.44% of Flushing Financial worth $2,133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in Flushing Financial by 27.8% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 6,434 shares of the bank's stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Flushing Financial by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 234,974 shares of the bank's stock worth $3,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,738 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Flushing Financial during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Flushing Financial by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 16,758 shares of the bank's stock valued at $239,000 after buying an additional 2,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Flushing Financial by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 94,908 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,355,000 after acquiring an additional 2,596 shares in the last quarter. 67.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Flushing Financial

In other Flushing Financial news, EVP Thomas Buonaiuto sold 6,800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.92, for a total value of $87,856.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 32,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $417,781.12. The trade was a 17.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 6.31% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Flushing Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th.

Flushing Financial Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of FFIC traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $11.51. The company had a trading volume of 241,105 shares, compared to its average volume of 244,325. The stock has a market capitalization of $388.77 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.40 and a beta of 0.67. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $13.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.64. Flushing Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $10.65 and a 52-week high of $18.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.21 by ($0.07). Flushing Financial had a positive return on equity of 3.25% and a negative net margin of 6.46%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Flushing Financial Co. will post 1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flushing Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Flushing Financial's payout ratio is -87.13%.

Flushing Financial Company Profile

Flushing Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Flushing Bank that provides banking products and services primarily to consumers, businesses, and governmental units. It offers various deposit products, including checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, non-interest bearing demand accounts, NOW accounts, and certificates of deposit.