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

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Flushing Financial

In other news, Director Sam Sang Ki Han sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.47, for a total transaction of $154,700.00. Following the sale, the director now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Maria A. Grasso sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.49, for a total value of $60,705.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 83,238 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,122,880.62. The trade was a 5.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 22,500 shares of company stock valued at $344,925. Corporate insiders own 6.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Flushing Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Flushing Financial by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 694,216 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,124,000 after acquiring an additional 5,128 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Flushing Financial by 56.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 51,833 shares of the bank’s stock worth $756,000 after purchasing an additional 18,773 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in Flushing Financial by 14.5% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 58,821 shares of the bank’s stock worth $858,000 after purchasing an additional 7,467 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in Flushing Financial in the third quarter worth $171,000. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in Flushing Financial during the third quarter valued at $4,936,000. 67.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Raymond James raised their price objective on Flushing Financial from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Flushing Financial from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Flushing Financial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $15.00 to $16.50 in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Flushing Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.50.

Flushing Financial Stock Down 0.8 %

FFIC traded down $0.14 on Friday, reaching $17.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 82,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 180,795. Flushing Financial has a 1 year low of $10.74 and a 1 year high of $18.40. The business’s 50 day moving average is $15.17 and its 200 day moving average is $13.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $510.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.18 and a beta of 0.75.

Flushing Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.01%. Flushing Financial’s payout ratio is 101.15%.

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.