FS Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSBW) Short Interest Down 9.7% in November

FS Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSBW) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 40,200 shares, a decrease of 9.7% from the November 15th total of 44,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 17,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FS Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. De Lisle Partners LLP increased its holdings in shares of FS Bancorp by 34.0% during the 3rd quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP now owns 358,765 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,982,000 after buying an additional 91,123 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of FS Bancorp in the second quarter valued at approximately $900,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in FS Bancorp by 92.6% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 14,191 shares of the bank’s stock worth $631,000 after buying an additional 6,823 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in FS Bancorp by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 27,418 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,220,000 after purchasing an additional 6,331 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in FS Bancorp by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 113,851 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,065,000 after buying an additional 5,313 shares in the last quarter. 63.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FS Bancorp Trading Down 0.7 %

FS Bancorp stock traded down $0.34 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $45.06. The company had a trading volume of 14,524 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,275. The firm has a market cap of $352.23 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.57 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $45.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.78. FS Bancorp has a 12-month low of $30.64 and a 12-month high of $49.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

FS Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSBW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $53.01 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.10 million. FS Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.42% and a net margin of 18.28%. Equities analysts forecast that FS Bancorp will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current year.

FS Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. FS Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.93%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of FS Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd.

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.