FS Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSBW) Short Interest Up 93.5% in April

FS Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSBW) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totaling 152,229 shares, a growth of 93.5% from the April 15th total of 78,653 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 21,450 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.1 days. Approximately 2.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FSBW. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of FS Bancorp by 7.2% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 38,822 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,476,000 after acquiring an additional 2,611 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of FS Bancorp by 0.5% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 163,340 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,434,000 after acquiring an additional 826 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of FS Bancorp by 4.7% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 9,891 shares of the bank’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of FS Bancorp in the second quarter worth about $262,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in shares of FS Bancorp in the second quarter worth about $413,000. Institutional investors own 63.88% of the company’s stock.

FS Bancorp Price Performance

FSBW traded down $0.50 on Friday, hitting $39.60. 11,807 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,534. FS Bancorp has a 12 month low of $36.66 and a 12 month high of $44.22. The business has a 50-day moving average of $39.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.43 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.23 and a beta of 0.67.

FS Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSBW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $37.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.70 million. FS Bancorp had a net margin of 14.91% and a return on equity of 10.88%. Sell-side analysts forecast that FS Bancorp will post 4.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FS Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 7th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 7th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. FS Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 27.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on FSBW shares. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of FS Bancorp from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of FS Bancorp from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, FS Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.00.

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.