Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG) Director Carl Porto Buys 327 Shares

Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:BWFG) Director Carl Porto bought 327 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $67.11 per share, with a total value of $21,944.97. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 22,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,503,062.67. This trade represents a 1.48% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Bankwell Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of BWFG stock opened at $66.71 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $64.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $531.68 million, a PE ratio of 12.47 and a beta of 0.58. Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.44 and a 52-week high of $69.59.

Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.23. Bankwell Financial Group had a return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 19.80%.The company had revenue of $32.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.63 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.7 EPS for the current year.

Bankwell Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Bankwell Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.95%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bankwell Financial Group

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Bankwell Financial Group during the 2nd quarter worth $28,974,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Bankwell Financial Group by 3.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 366,963 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,238,000 after buying an additional 13,823 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Bankwell Financial Group by 1.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 319,241 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,489,000 after buying an additional 4,795 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Bankwell Financial Group by 5.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 159,384 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,744,000 after buying an additional 8,178 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in Bankwell Financial Group by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 115,711 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,302,000 after buying an additional 6,138 shares in the last quarter. 35.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bankwell Financial Group News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Bankwell Financial Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Director Lawrence Seidman purchased 5,266 shares at an average price of $66.94, investing approximately $352,506 and increasing his position by 2.39%. SEC filing
• Positive Sentiment: Directors Carl Porto, Blake Drexler, Jeffrey Dunne and Eric Dale also bought shares at approximately $67.11 each. Their purchases totaled 1,234 shares, or roughly $82,814, further reinforcing the positive insider-buying signal. Carl Porto SEC filing Blake Drexler SEC filing Jeffrey Dunne SEC filing Eric Dale SEC filing

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on BWFG. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Bankwell Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Bankwell Financial Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Hovde Group lifted their price objective on Bankwell Financial Group from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Bankwell Financial Group from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.50.

About Bankwell Financial Group

Bankwell Financial Group, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in New Canaan, Connecticut, and serves as the parent company of Bankwell Bank. Bankwell Bank provides commercial, business and personal banking services, with branch locations primarily across Fairfield and New Haven counties in Connecticut, along with a New York presence.

The company’s deposit offerings include checking, savings and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit, all supported by an online and mobile banking platform for convenient account access.