R Squared Ltd Makes New $609,000 Investment in Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. $BWFG

R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:BWFG) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 9,402 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $609,000. R Squared Ltd owned 0.12% of Bankwell Financial Group as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Bankwell Financial Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in Bankwell Financial Group by 69.7% in the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 728 shares of the bank’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Bankwell Financial Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Assetmark Inc. acquired a new position in Bankwell Financial Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $146,000. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new position in Bankwell Financial Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $211,000. 35.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bankwell Financial Group

In related news, Director Lawrence B. Seidman bought 5,266 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $66.94 per share, for a total transaction of $352,506.04. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 225,640 shares in the company, valued at $15,104,341.60. This trade represents a 2.39% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Eric J. Dale purchased 530 shares of Bankwell Financial Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $67.11 per share, with a total value of $35,568.30. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 43,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,887,474.86. This trade represents a 1.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 9,040 shares of company stock worth $602,757. 20.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BWFG. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $79.00 price objective (up from $72.00) on shares of Bankwell Financial Group in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Hovde Group lifted their target price on Bankwell Financial Group from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Zacks Research upgraded Bankwell Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Bankwell Financial Group from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (a)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $71.00.

Bankwell Financial Group Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of BWFG stock opened at $71.51 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.92. Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $43.44 and a twelve month high of $74.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The company has a market capitalization of $569.93 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.50 and a beta of 0.58.

Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The bank reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.14. Bankwell Financial Group had a net margin of 20.49% and a return on equity of 14.33%. The company had revenue of $35.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.33 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. will post 6.12 EPS for the current year.

Bankwell Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Bankwell Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.13%.

Bankwell Financial Group Profile

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.