Lawrence Seidman Buys 11,000 Shares of Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG) Stock

Key Points

• Lawrence Seidman, a Director at Bankwell Financial Group, purchased 11,000 shares of the company's stock at an average price of $44.54, increasing his ownership by 6.40%.
• Bankwell Financial Group's last quarterly earnings reported an EPS of $1.15, exceeding expectations of $0.87, with a revenue of $47.14 million.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share, leading to an annualized dividend yield of 1.8%.

Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:BWFG - Get Free Report) Director Lawrence Seidman acquired 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $44.54 per share, for a total transaction of $489,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 182,795 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,141,689.30. This represents a 6.40% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Bankwell Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of Bankwell Financial Group stock traded up $0.32 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $44.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,590. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $39.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.99. Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.39 and a 12-month high of $45.02. The company has a market cap of $352.38 million, a PE ratio of 17.35 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06.

Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG - Get Free Report) last announced 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 business had revenue of $47.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.20 million.

Bankwell Financial Group Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. grew its stake in Bankwell Financial Group by 70.7% in the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 722 shares of the bank's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in Bankwell Financial Group by 38.8% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,124 shares of the bank's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Bankwell Financial Group by 0.6% in the second quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 105,066 shares of the bank's stock worth $3,786,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Bankwell Financial Group by 3.4% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 21,262 shares of the bank's stock worth $642,000 after purchasing an additional 702 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Bankwell Financial Group by 1.8% in the second quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 47,079 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 35.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on BWFG. Wall Street Zen downgraded Bankwell Financial Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Hovde Group boosted their target price on Bankwell Financial Group from $38.50 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial started coverage on Bankwell Financial Group in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bankwell Financial Group has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $42.00.

Bankwell Financial Group Company Profile

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.

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