Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD) Shares Up 0.7% - Here's What Happened

Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD - Get Free Report) shares shot up 0.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $28.45 and last traded at $28.22. 4,788 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 31% from the average session volume of 6,920 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.03.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FNWD. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Finward Bancorp from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Hovde Group lowered shares of Finward Bancorp from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th.

Finward Bancorp Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $119.64 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.88 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.52.

Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Finward Bancorp had a return on equity of 2.16% and a net margin of 3.28%. The business had revenue of $15.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.25 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Finward Bancorp will post 0.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Finward Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. PL Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Finward Bancorp by 11.2% in the first quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 395,716 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,515,000 after purchasing an additional 40,000 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Finward Bancorp by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 344,926 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,696,000 after purchasing an additional 33,036 shares during the last quarter. Finward Bancorp purchased a new position in Finward Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,175,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Finward Bancorp by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 17,641 shares of the company's stock valued at $496,000 after purchasing an additional 1,393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Finward Bancorp by 37.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,021 shares of the company's stock valued at $422,000 after purchasing an additional 4,098 shares during the last quarter. 26.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Finward Bancorp

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.