Hawthorn Bancshares (NASDAQ:HWBK) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hawthorn Bancshares (NASDAQ:HWBK) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning.

Hawthorn Bancshares Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of HWBK stock opened at $28.50 on Wednesday. Hawthorn Bancshares has a 1-year low of $17.86 and a 1-year high of $34.00. The firm has a market cap of $199.22 million, a PE ratio of 31.67 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50-day moving average of $30.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Hawthorn Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, December 15th were issued a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. Hawthorn Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hawthorn Bancshares

In other news, Director Jonathan Holtaway sold 5,053 shares of Hawthorn Bancshares stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.57, for a total value of $144,364.21. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 402,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,498,282.20. The trade was a 1.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frank E. Burkhead sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.87, for a total value of $95,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,477 shares in the company, valued at $365,771.99. This represents a 20.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,457 shares of company stock valued at $285,175 over the last quarter. 23.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hawthorn Bancshares

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HWBK. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hawthorn Bancshares by 36.5% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 25,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $496,000 after purchasing an additional 6,700 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Hawthorn Bancshares by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 27,169 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $680,000 after buying an additional 1,340 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Hawthorn Bancshares by 11.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 68,657 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,719,000 after acquiring an additional 6,955 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 30.73% of the company’s stock.

About Hawthorn Bancshares

Hawthorn Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Hawthorn Bank that provides various banking services in the United States. It accepts checking, savings, money market, individual retirement, and other time deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also offers commercial and industrial, single payment personal, installment, commercial and residential real estate, and consumer loans, as well as equipment, operating, and small business administration loans; and debit and credit cards.