Flushing Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FFIC) Short Interest Update

Flushing Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FFIC) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 553,500 shares, a decrease of 34.8% from the October 15th total of 848,300 shares. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 161,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Flushing Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ FFIC traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $17.70. The company had a trading volume of 95,376 shares, compared to its average volume of 181,241. The business has a 50 day moving average of $15.08 and a 200-day moving average of $13.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94. Flushing Financial has a 1-year low of $10.74 and a 1-year high of $18.40. The company has a market cap of $514.54 million, a PE ratio of 20.34 and a beta of 0.75.

Flushing Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Flushing Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 83,238 shares in the company, valued at $1,122,880.62. The trade was a 5.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Sam Sang Ki Han sold 10,000 shares of Flushing Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.47, for a total transaction of $154,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 67,251 shares in the company, valued at $1,040,372.97. This trade represents a 12.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,500 shares of company stock worth $344,925. Company insiders own 6.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flushing Financial

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in Flushing Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,936,000. Fourthstone LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Flushing Financial in the third quarter valued at about $510,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Flushing Financial by 18.7% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 19,661 shares of the bank’s stock worth $287,000 after buying an additional 3,100 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Flushing Financial by 64.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,259 shares of the bank’s stock worth $106,000 after buying an additional 2,836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Flushing Financial by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 233,236 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,401,000 after acquiring an additional 4,876 shares during the period. 67.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on FFIC. Piper Sandler cut shares of Flushing Financial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $15.00 to $16.50 in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Flushing Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. 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 report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on Flushing Financial from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Flushing Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.50.

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.