Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG) Cut to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Bankwell Financial Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th.

Bankwell Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BWFG opened at $35.33 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.64. Bankwell Financial Group has a 1-year low of $22.80 and a 1-year high of $36.00. The firm has a market cap of $278.05 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.14. Bankwell Financial Group had a return on equity of 4.60% and a net margin of 6.33%. The business had revenue of $23.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.63 million.

Bankwell Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. Bankwell Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.96%.

Insider Transactions at Bankwell Financial Group

In other news, EVP Steven H. Brunner sold 807 shares of Bankwell Financial Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.36, for a total value of $26,921.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,641.28. The trade was a 34.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders purchased 1,306 shares of company stock valued at $46,585 over the last three months. Company insiders own 19.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bankwell Financial Group

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BWFG. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Bankwell Financial Group by 35.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 30,262 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $943,000 after purchasing an additional 7,908 shares during the last quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Bankwell Financial Group by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 90,358 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,815,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Bankwell Financial Group by 102.7% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 23,590 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $735,000 after purchasing an additional 11,952 shares during the last quarter. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Bankwell Financial Group by 30.2% during the 4th quarter. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC now owns 174,584 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,438,000 after purchasing an additional 40,458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Bankwell Financial Group by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 148,035 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,612,000 after purchasing an additional 693 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 35.80% of the company’s stock.

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.