Trexquant Investment LP Takes Position in Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. $BWFG

Key Points

• Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in Bankwell Financial Group, purchasing 6,755 shares valued at approximately $204,000, raising its ownership to about 0.09%.
• A variety of institutional investors increased their positions in Bankwell Financial Group, with GM Advisory Group LLC buying an additional 14,119 shares and owning a total of 104,477 shares worth over $3 million.
• The company recently declared a $0.20 quarterly dividend, with an annualized yield of 1.8%, reflecting a payout ratio of 31.01%.

Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:BWFG - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 6,755 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $204,000. Trexquant Investment LP owned about 0.09% of Bankwell Financial Group as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Bankwell Financial Group by 3,002.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,086 shares of the bank's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of Bankwell Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth about $104,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bankwell Financial Group in the first quarter worth about $217,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bankwell Financial Group in the first quarter worth about $244,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new position in shares of Bankwell Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth about $281,000. 35.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BWFG. Wall Street Zen cut Bankwell Financial Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Hovde Group raised their price objective on Bankwell Financial Group from $38.50 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial started coverage on Bankwell Financial Group in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bankwell Financial Group currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $42.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Lawrence B. Seidman acquired 17,000 shares of Bankwell Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $45.91 per share, for a total transaction of $780,470.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 194,509 shares in the company, valued at $8,929,908.19. This represents a 9.58% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Todd Lampert sold 3,300 shares of Bankwell Financial Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.29, for a total value of $139,557.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 13,533 shares in the company, valued at $572,310.57. This represents a 19.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 29,083 shares of company stock worth $1,316,383 and have sold 9,688 shares worth $396,525. 19.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Bankwell Financial Group Price Performance

BWFG traded down $0.79 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $44.37. The company's stock had a trading volume of 37,794 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,841. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.39 and a twelve month high of $46.63. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $40.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $349.19 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.20 and a beta of 0.71.

Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The bank reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.28. Bankwell Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.44% and a net margin of 10.27%.The company had revenue of $47.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.20 million.

Bankwell Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Bankwell Financial Group's payout ratio is currently 31.01%.

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.