Empowered Funds LLC Purchases New Shares in FS Bancorp, Inc. $FSBW

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in FS Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSBW) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 41,313 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,793,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. De Lisle Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of FS Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth about $16,956,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of FS Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,213,000. Siena Capital Partners GP LLC increased its stake in shares of FS Bancorp by 156.1% in the 4th quarter. Siena Capital Partners GP LLC now owns 52,441 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,159,000 after purchasing an additional 31,965 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in FS Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth about $893,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in FS Bancorp by 104.3% in the 3rd 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.88% of the company’s stock.

FS Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of FS Bancorp stock opened at $43.41 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $322.54 million, a P/E ratio of 10.00 and a beta of 0.66. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.44. FS Bancorp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.66 and a 12 month high of $45.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

FS Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSBW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08. FS Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.86% and a net margin of 14.88%.The firm had revenue of $5.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.00 million. As a group, analysts predict that FS Bancorp, Inc. will post 4.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FS Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th were issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. FS Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FSBW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded FS Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Brean Capital downgraded FS Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings raised FS Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of FS Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.00.

Insider Transactions at FS Bancorp

In other FS Bancorp news, Director Terri Degner sold 975 shares of FS Bancorp stock in a transaction on Friday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.25, for a total transaction of $42,168.75. Following the sale, the director owned 1,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,900. The trade was a 44.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 12.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.