Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 18,200 shares, a growth of 75.0% from the May 15th total of 10,400 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 7,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days. Approximately 0.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Finward Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of FNWD stock opened at $28.36 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $122.69 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.02 and a beta of 0.27. Finward Bancorp has a 52 week low of $23.50 and a 52 week high of $33.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $29.92 and a 200-day moving average of $28.83.

Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $15.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.25 million. Finward Bancorp had a net margin of 10.85% and a return on equity of 7.91%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Finward Bancorp will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Finward Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Finward Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.34%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Finward Bancorp

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. PL Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Finward Bancorp by 2,718.1% in the 4th quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,999,177 shares of the company’s stock worth $281,077,000 after purchasing an additional 9,644,355 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Finward Bancorp by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 344,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,696,000 after acquiring an additional 33,036 shares during the last quarter. Finward Bancorp purchased a new position in Finward Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth $4,175,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Finward Bancorp by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 17,641 shares of the company’s stock worth $496,000 after acquiring an additional 1,393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Finward Bancorp by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $422,000 after acquiring an additional 4,098 shares during the last quarter. 26.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Hovde Group lowered shares of Finward Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Finward Bancorp from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd.

About Finward Bancorp

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.