Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD) Short Interest Up 75.0% in May

Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 18,200 shares, an increase of 75.0% from the May 15th total of 10,400 shares. Currently, 0.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 7,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Institutional Trading of Finward Bancorp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. PL Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Finward Bancorp by 2,718.1% during the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,999,177 shares of the company's stock valued at $281,077,000 after buying an additional 9,644,355 shares in the last quarter. Finward Bancorp acquired a new position in Finward Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,175,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in Finward Bancorp by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 344,926 shares of the company's stock worth $9,696,000 after buying an additional 33,036 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Finward Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $221,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Finward Bancorp by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,021 shares of the company's stock valued at $422,000 after acquiring an additional 4,098 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.59% of the company's stock.

Finward Bancorp Price Performance

Finward Bancorp stock traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $28.67. 11,349 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,896. Finward Bancorp has a 1-year low of $23.50 and a 1-year high of $33.50. The firm has a market cap of $124.03 million, a P/E ratio of 37.23 and a beta of 0.27. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $29.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.01. Finward Bancorp had a net margin of 3.28% and a return on equity of 2.16%. The business had revenue of $15.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.25 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Finward Bancorp will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Finward Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Finward Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on FNWD. Stephens raised their target price on Finward Bancorp from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Hovde Group cut Finward Bancorp from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th.

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.