Flushing Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FFIC) Short Interest Down 9.5% in September

Flushing Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FFIC) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 635,100 shares, a drop of 9.5% from the September 15th total of 701,400 shares. Currently, 2.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 165,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Flushing Financial Stock Performance

FFIC stock traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $15.64. 300,947 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 178,771. Flushing Financial has a 52 week low of $10.74 and a 52 week high of $18.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $14.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $13.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $454.64 million, a PE ratio of 15.64 and a beta of 0.76.

Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The bank reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18. Flushing Financial had a return on equity of 3.96% and a net margin of 5.84%. The company had revenue of $117.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $46.96 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Flushing Financial will post 0.69 EPS for the current year.

Flushing Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Flushing Financial’s payout ratio is 88.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Flushing Financial from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com lowered Flushing Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Piper Sandler downgraded Flushing Financial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $15.00 to $16.50 in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Flushing Financial from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Flushing Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.50.

Insider Activity at Flushing Financial

In other news, COO Maria A. Grasso sold 4,500 shares of Flushing Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.49, for a total transaction of $60,705.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 83,238 shares in the company, valued at $1,122,880.62. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flushing Financial

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its position in Flushing Financial by 1.3% during the second quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 68,151 shares of the bank’s stock worth $896,000 after buying an additional 907 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Flushing Financial in the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Flushing Financial by 87.0% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,534 shares of the bank’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 2,575 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Flushing Financial in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its position in Flushing Financial by 5.4% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 54,223 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $684,000 after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.10% of the company’s stock.

Flushing Financial Company Profile

Flushing Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Flushing Bank that provides banking products and services primarily to consumers, businesses, and governmental units. It offers various deposit products, including checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, non-interest bearing demand accounts, NOW accounts, and certificates of deposit.