FS Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSBW) Short Interest Update

FS Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSBW) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of 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. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 21,450 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.1 days. Approximately 2.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Trading of FS Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in shares of FS Bancorp by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 9,891 shares of the bank’s stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of FS Bancorp by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 15,256 shares of the bank’s stock worth $628,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of FS Bancorp by 135.0% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,060 shares of the bank’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 609 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of FS Bancorp by 1,852.8% during the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 703 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of FS Bancorp by 104.3% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,330 shares of the bank’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares during the period. 63.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

FS Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of FSBW stock traded up $0.25 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $39.85. 2,446 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,927. FS Bancorp has a 12 month low of $36.66 and a 12 month high of $44.22. The company has a market cap of $215.59 million, a P/E ratio of 9.36 and a beta of 0.67. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $39.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.04.

FS Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSBW) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 14.91%.The company had revenue of $37.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.70 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that FS Bancorp will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current year.

FS Bancorp Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on FSBW shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of FS Bancorp from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of FS Bancorp from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.00.

About FS Bancorp

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.