Short Interest in Flushing Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FFIC) Decreases By 34.8%

Flushing Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FFIC) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 553,500 shares, a decline of 34.8% from the October 15th total of 848,300 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 161,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.4 days. Currently, 2.0% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Flushing Financial

In other Flushing Financial news, Director Sam Sang Ki Han sold 10,000 shares of Flushing Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.47, for a total value of $154,700.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 67,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,040,372.97. This trade represents a 12.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Astrid Burrowes sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.19, for a total value of $129,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 34,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $564,270.07. This represents a 18.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,500 shares of company stock valued at $344,925. Company insiders own 6.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Flushing Financial by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,609,430 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,295,000 after acquiring an additional 5,933 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its holdings in shares of Flushing Financial by 0.9% in the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 1,209,250 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,249,000 after purchasing an additional 11,285 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Flushing Financial by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 694,216 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,124,000 after purchasing an additional 5,128 shares during the period. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Flushing Financial by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 453,198 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,960,000 after buying an additional 46,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Flushing Financial by 16.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 452,209 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,947,000 after buying an additional 62,659 shares during the period. 67.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Flushing Financial Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIC traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $17.56. The stock had a trading volume of 82,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 180,795. The company has a market cap of $510.45 million, a P/E ratio of 20.18 and a beta of 0.75. Flushing Financial has a 12 month low of $10.74 and a 12 month high of $18.40. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27.

Flushing Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.01%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Flushing Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.15%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FFIC has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler cut Flushing Financial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $15.00 to $16.50 in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Flushing Financial from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Flushing Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Flushing Financial from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Flushing Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.50.

About Flushing Financial

Flushing Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Flushing Bank that provides banking products and services primarily to consumers, businesses, and governmental units. It offers various deposit products, including checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, non-interest bearing demand accounts, NOW accounts, and certificates of deposit.