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

FS Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSBW) saw a large increase in short interest in April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totaling 152,229 shares, an increase of 93.5% from the April 15th total of 78,653 shares. Currently, 2.3% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 21,450 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.1 days.

FS Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of FSBW stock opened at $39.66 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $39.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.67. FS Bancorp has a 52 week low of $36.66 and a 52 week high of $44.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.56 million, a PE ratio of 9.24 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

FS Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSBW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.01. FS Bancorp had a net margin of 14.91% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The firm had revenue of $37.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.70 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that FS Bancorp will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current year.

FS Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 7th will be paid a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 7th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. FS Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 27.04%.

Institutional Trading of FS Bancorp

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FSBW. Daytona Street Capital LLC bought a new stake in FS Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,335,000. Royce & Associates LP grew its position in FS Bancorp by 35.1% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 103,348 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,126,000 after buying an additional 26,840 shares during the period. Teton Advisors LLC bought a new stake in FS Bancorp during the third quarter valued at approximately $838,000. Siena Capital Partners GP LLC bought a new stake in FS Bancorp during the third quarter valued at approximately $817,000. Finally, CWM LLC grew its position in FS Bancorp by 135.0% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,060 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 609 shares during the period. 63.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of FS Bancorp from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of FS Bancorp from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.00.

FS Bancorp Company Profile

FS Bancorp, Inc (NASDAQ: FSBW) is a bank holding company headquartered in Illinois that provides community banking services in the Midwestern United States. Through its wholly owned banking subsidiary, the company offers a full suite of deposit products, including checking and savings accounts, money market instruments, certificates of deposit and online banking platforms.

On the lending side, FS Bancorp extends commercial and industrial loans, residential mortgage financing, consumer credit and agricultural lending.