Benjamin Louis Schmitt Buys 500 Shares of Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD) Stock

Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD) CFO Benjamin Louis Schmitt bought 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $31.13 per share, with a total value of $15,565.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 3,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $108,643.70. The trade was a 16.72 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Benjamin Louis Schmitt also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, October 31st, Benjamin Louis Schmitt purchased 10 shares of Finward Bancorp stock. The stock was bought at an average cost of $31.28 per share, with a total value of $312.80.

Finward Bancorp Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:FNWD traded up $0.38 on Friday, hitting $31.15. 1,147 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,768. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. Finward Bancorp has a 52 week low of $22.50 and a 52 week high of $33.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $134.38 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 0.52. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $31.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.42.

Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.04). Finward Bancorp had a return on equity of 7.60% and a net margin of 10.44%. The business had revenue of $14.87 million for the quarter. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Finward Bancorp will post 0.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Finward Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Finward Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.84%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Finward Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP bought a new position in Finward Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $329,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Finward Bancorp by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,237,000 after acquiring an additional 2,825 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Finward Bancorp by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,930,000 after acquiring an additional 5,206 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 26.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Hovde Group upgraded Finward Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 6th.

About Finward Bancorp

Finward Bancorp operates as the holding company for Peoples Bank that provides various banking products and services. The company’s deposit products include non-interest- and interest-bearing demand accounts, savings accounts, money market deposit accounts, certificate accounts, and retirement savings plans.