Short Interest in Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:BWFG) Decreases By 10.7%

Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:BWFG) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 93,900 shares, a decline of 10.7% from the March 15th total of 105,100 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 11,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 8.0 days. Currently, 1.6% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Bankwell Financial Group from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 30th.

Bankwell Financial Group Price Performance

NASDAQ BWFG traded down $0.22 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $23.19. 6,819 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,158. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $25.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.47. The company has a market cap of $184.13 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.94 and a beta of 0.78. Bankwell Financial Group has a 1-year low of $21.22 and a 1-year high of $30.83.

Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The bank reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $23.37 million for the quarter. Bankwell Financial Group had a return on equity of 14.45% and a net margin of 18.97%.

Bankwell Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 13th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 12th. Bankwell Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 17.06%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Bankwell Financial Group by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 382,447 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,324,000 after buying an additional 46,323 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Bankwell Financial Group by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 327,313 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,878,000 after buying an additional 5,345 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Bankwell Financial Group by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 268,724 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,110,000 after buying an additional 9,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in Bankwell Financial Group by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 213,200 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,620,000 after buying an additional 9,930 shares in the last quarter. 35.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.