Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD) Short Interest Down 29.5% in October

Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD) saw a significant drop in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totaling 91,800 shares, a drop of 29.5% from the September 30th total of 130,200 shares. Currently, 2.7% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 39,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days. Based on an average trading volume of 39,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days. Currently, 2.7% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of FNWD. PL Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Finward Bancorp by 11.2% during the 1st quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 395,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,515,000 after buying an additional 40,000 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN purchased a new stake in Finward Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth $442,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Finward Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth $213,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Finward Bancorp by 99.7% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 81,669 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,256,000 after purchasing an additional 40,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. purchased a new stake in Finward Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Finward Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Finward Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.00.

Finward Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of Finward Bancorp stock traded down $0.73 on Monday, hitting $34.42. 5,550 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,457. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.87 million, a PE ratio of 18.02 and a beta of 0.31. Finward Bancorp has a 1 year low of $26.12 and a 1 year high of $35.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.41. Finward Bancorp had a net margin of 8.01% and a return on equity of 5.38%. The company had revenue of $17.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.80 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Finward Bancorp will post 0.9 EPS for the current year.

Finward Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Finward Bancorp’s payout ratio is 25.13%.

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.