Lawrence Seidman Acquires 2,540 Shares of Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG) Stock

Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:BWFG) Director Lawrence Seidman acquired 2,540 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $65.92 per share, for a total transaction of $167,436.80. Following the purchase, the director owned 223,684 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,745,249.28. This trade represents a 1.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Bankwell Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BWFG opened at $66.32 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $62.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $528.57 million, a PE ratio of 12.40 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.44 and a fifty-two week high of $69.59.

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

Bankwell Financial Group Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Bankwell Financial Group

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BWFG. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Bankwell Financial Group by 3.4% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 21,262 shares of the bank’s stock worth $642,000 after buying an additional 702 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Bankwell Financial Group in the 1st quarter valued at $250,000. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Bankwell Financial Group during the 1st quarter valued at $148,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bankwell Financial Group by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 159,384 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,744,000 after acquiring an additional 8,178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in Bankwell Financial Group by 15.2% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 10,119 shares of the bank’s stock worth $365,000 after acquiring an additional 1,335 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 35.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BWFG shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Bankwell Financial Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Bankwell Financial Group from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Hovde Group boosted their price objective on shares of Bankwell Financial Group from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Wall Street Zen cut Bankwell Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research raised Bankwell Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bankwell Financial Group currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $67.50.

Bankwell Financial Group Company 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.