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

Flushing Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FFIC) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 621,200 shares, a decrease of 15.9% from the July 15th total of 738,500 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 193,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days. Approximately 2.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FFIC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Flushing Financial from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James lifted their price target on Flushing Financial from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com cut Flushing Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded Flushing Financial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $15.00 to $16.50 in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.50.

Flushing Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FFIC traded up $0.25 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $13.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 125,406 shares, compared to its average volume of 188,562. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. Flushing Financial has a 1-year low of $10.74 and a 1-year high of $18.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $13.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.86. The firm has a market cap of $398.54 million, a P/E ratio of 13.71 and a beta of 0.77.

Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The bank reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18. The firm had revenue of $117.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $46.96 million. Flushing Financial had a net margin of 5.84% and a return on equity of 3.96%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Flushing Financial will post 0.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flushing Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. Flushing Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 88.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flushing Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Flushing Financial by 23.9% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,217 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 4,476 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Flushing Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $307,000. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp acquired a new position in shares of Flushing Financial during the fourth quarter worth approximately $287,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in Flushing Financial in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Flushing Financial by 290.9% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 114,404 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,443,000 after acquiring an additional 85,139 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.10% of the company’s stock.

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.