FS Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSBW) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

FS Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSBW) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 38,900 shares, a growth of 21.9% from the September 15th total of 31,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 19,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FS Bancorp

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in FS Bancorp by 25.6% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 12,710 shares of the bank’s stock worth $441,000 after purchasing an additional 2,590 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of FS Bancorp by 8.1% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 30,437 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,056,000 after buying an additional 2,275 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in FS Bancorp by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 403,704 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,013,000 after buying an additional 2,376 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in FS Bancorp by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 7,734 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in FS Bancorp by 64.5% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,288 shares of the bank’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on FSBW shares. StockNews.com raised FS Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of FS Bancorp from $34.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th.

FS Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of FS Bancorp stock opened at $44.72 on Wednesday. FS Bancorp has a 12 month low of $28.07 and a 12 month high of $47.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $348.64 million, a PE ratio of 9.76 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.64.

FS Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSBW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $51.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.40 million. FS Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.40% and a net margin of 18.05%. On average, research analysts predict that FS Bancorp will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

About FS Bancorp

FS Bancorp, Inc operates as a bank holding company for 1st Security Bank of Washington that provides banking and financial services to local families, local and regional businesses, and industry niches. The company operates in two segments, Commercial and Consumer Banking; and Home Lending. It offers various deposit instruments, including checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit.