Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,400 shares, a growth of 136.4% from the April 30th total of 4,400 shares. Currently, 0.3% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days.

Insider Transactions at Finward Bancorp

In other news, Director Robert W. Youman bought 1,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $27.76 per share, with a total value of $38,864.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 22,773 shares in the company, valued at approximately $632,178.48. The trade was a 6.55% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders bought 1,911 shares of company stock worth $53,380 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.07% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Finward Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FNWD. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Finward Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $221,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Finward Bancorp by 37.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,021 shares of the company's stock worth $422,000 after buying an additional 4,098 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Finward Bancorp by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 17,641 shares of the company's stock worth $496,000 after acquiring an additional 1,393 shares in the last quarter. Finward Bancorp bought a new position in Finward Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth $4,175,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Finward Bancorp by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 344,926 shares of the company's stock worth $9,696,000 after acquiring an additional 33,036 shares in the last quarter. 26.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Hovde Group lowered shares of Finward Bancorp from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Finward Bancorp from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd.

Finward Bancorp Stock Performance

Finward Bancorp stock traded up $0.54 on Friday, hitting $29.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,699. The firm has a market cap of $128.53 million, a P/E ratio of 10.50 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $29.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.97. Finward Bancorp has a one year low of $23.50 and a one year high of $33.50.

Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $15.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.25 million. Finward Bancorp had a net margin of 10.85% and a return on equity of 7.91%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Finward Bancorp will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Finward Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. Finward Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is 62.34%.

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.