Sound Financial Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFBC) Short Interest Update

Sound Financial Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFBC) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of August. As of August 14th, there was short interest totaling 5,229 shares, a drop of 41.5% from the July 30th total of 8,936 shares. Currently, 0.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 26,114 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.2 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sound Financial Bancorp news, CEO Laura Lee Stewart sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.60, for a total value of $38,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $383,400. The trade was a 9.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 12.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sound Financial Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Sound Financial Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,616,000. Pacific Sage Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sound Financial Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $1,560,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sound Financial Bancorp by 106.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 50,505 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,324,000 after buying an additional 26,059 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sound Financial Bancorp in the second quarter worth about $278,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Sound Financial Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $271,000. 68.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Sound Financial Bancorp from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Sound Financial Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ SFBC traded up $0.77 on Tuesday, hitting $47.66. The company had a trading volume of 570 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,344. The company has a market capitalization of $122.47 million and a PE ratio of 15.27. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $45.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Sound Financial Bancorp has a 12-month low of $40.68 and a 12-month high of $49.21.

Sound Financial Bancorp (NASDAQ:SFBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Sound Financial Bancorp had a net margin of 12.89% and a return on equity of 7.31%. The business had revenue of $11.02 million for the quarter.

Sound Financial Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. Sound Financial Bancorp’s payout ratio is 26.92%.

About Sound Financial Bancorp

Sound Financial Bancorp, Inc is a bank holding company and the parent of Sound Community Bank, a community?oriented financial institution headquartered in University Place, Washington. Through its subsidiary, the company delivers a broad array of banking and financial services to individuals, small businesses and commercial clients throughout the Puget Sound region. Emphasizing relationship banking, Sound Financial Bancorp seeks to support local economic development by offering personalized service and community engagement.

The company’s core offerings include deposit products such as checking and savings accounts, money market accounts and certificates of deposit, as well as a full spectrum of lending solutions.