Sound Financial Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFBC) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Sound Financial Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFBC - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,100 shares, a decrease of 16.0% from the November 30th total of 2,500 shares. Currently, 0.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.3 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sound Financial Bancorp news, Director James E. Sweeney sold 592 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.57, for a total value of $31,121.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,942 shares in the company, valued at $154,660.94. This represents a 16.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 1,026 shares of company stock worth $54,446 over the last three months. 12.60% 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 SFBC. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Sound Financial Bancorp by 7.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,811 shares of the bank's stock worth $739,000 after purchasing an additional 1,122 shares during the period. Arcus Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sound Financial Bancorp during the third quarter valued at approximately $503,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sound Financial Bancorp by 6.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,885 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,278,000 after purchasing an additional 1,407 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in Sound Financial Bancorp by 10.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,095 shares of the bank's stock worth $273,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.85% of the company's stock.

Sound Financial Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of SFBC stock traded down $0.99 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $52.64. The company had a trading volume of 2,916 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,749. The company has a market capitalization of $134.97 million, a P/E ratio of 34.41 and a beta of 0.68. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $53.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.97. Sound Financial Bancorp has a 52-week low of $38.61 and a 52-week high of $55.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Sound Financial Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. Sound Financial Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.67%.

Sound Financial Bancorp Company Profile

Sound Financial Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Sound Community Bank that provides banking and other financial services for consumers and businesses. It accepts various deposits products comprising savings, money market deposit, NOW, and demand accounts, as well as certificates of deposit.