Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG) Stock Bumped Up to “Strong-Buy” by Zacks Research

Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG) was upgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Zacks reports.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on BWFG. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $79.00 price target (up from $72.00) on shares of Bankwell Financial Group in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Hovde Group lifted their price objective on shares of Bankwell Financial Group from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Bankwell Financial Group from a “buy (a)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Monday, October 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $71.00.

Bankwell Financial Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BWFG opened at $71.68 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Bankwell Financial Group has a 12-month low of $42.67 and a 12-month high of $73.56. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $66.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $571.29 million, a P/E ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 0.58.

Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The bank reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.14. Bankwell Financial Group had a return on equity of 14.58% and a net margin of 20.49%. The company had revenue of $35.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.33 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Bankwell Financial Group will post 6.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Bankwell Financial Group

In other news, Director Eric Dale bought 530 shares of Bankwell Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $67.11 per share, with a total value of $35,568.30. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 43,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,887,474.86. This trade represents a 1.25% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Lawrence Seidman bought 10,000 shares of Bankwell Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $66.63 per share, for a total transaction of $666,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 222,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,837,834.70. The trade was a 4.70% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 19,040 shares of company stock valued at $1,269,057. Company insiders own 20.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Bankwell Financial Group

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BWFG. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Bankwell Financial Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,974,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Bankwell Financial Group by 1.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 319,241 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,489,000 after purchasing an additional 4,795 shares in the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bankwell Financial Group by 6.0% in the first quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 105,900 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,138,000 after purchasing an additional 6,000 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Bankwell Financial Group by 111.4% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 41,342 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,006,000 after purchasing an additional 21,786 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in Bankwell Financial Group in the second quarter worth $1,891,000. Institutional investors own 35.80% of the company’s stock.

Bankwell Financial Group Company Profile

Bankwell Financial Group, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in New Canaan, Connecticut, and serves as the parent company of Bankwell Bank. Bankwell Bank provides commercial, business and personal banking services, with branch locations primarily across Fairfield and New Haven counties in Connecticut, along with a New York presence.

The company’s deposit offerings include checking, savings and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit, all supported by an online and mobile banking platform for convenient account access.