Insider Selling: Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) EVP Sells 1,570 Shares of Stock

Flushing Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:FFIC) EVP Thomas Buonaiuto sold 1,570 shares of Flushing Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.20, for a total transaction of $25,434.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 35,469 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,597.80. This trade represents a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Thomas Buonaiuto also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, January 30th, Thomas Buonaiuto sold 1,311 shares of Flushing Financial stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.67, for a total transaction of $20,543.37.

Flushing Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FFIC traded up $0.44 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $16.59. The stock had a trading volume of 504,110 shares, compared to its average volume of 418,203. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $560.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.73 and a beta of 0.81. Flushing Financial Corporation has a twelve month low of $10.65 and a twelve month high of $17.79.

Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The bank reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $58.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.27 million. Flushing Financial had a return on equity of 5.96% and a net margin of 3.86%. On average, analysts expect that Flushing Financial Corporation will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flushing Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th were given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.3%. Flushing Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 162.96%.

Institutional Trading of Flushing Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in Flushing Financial by 75.1% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,847 shares of the bank’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650 shares in the last quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey increased its position in shares of Flushing Financial by 37.0% in the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 8,119 shares of the bank’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194 shares in the last quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP purchased a new position in shares of Flushing Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $147,000. ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Flushing Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $152,000. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new stake in Flushing Financial during the 3rd quarter worth $177,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of Flushing Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Flushing Financial from $14.50 to $16.80 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Flushing Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 31st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Flushing Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Flushing Financial in a report on Monday, December 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $16.80.

About Flushing Financial

Flushing Financial Corporation is the bank holding company for Flushing Bank, a community-oriented financial institution headquartered in Flushing, Queens, New York. Tracing its origins to the founding of Flushing Bank in 1929, the holding company was established in 2006 to support the bank’s growth and diversification. Flushing Financial operates under the Nasdaq ticker FFIC, delivering a full suite of banking services to personal, commercial and institutional customers.

The company’s primary business activities include deposit-taking, consumer and commercial lending, mortgage banking and treasury management.