Jeffrey Dunne Purchases 261 Shares of Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG) Stock

Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:BWFG) Director Jeffrey Dunne purchased 261 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $67.11 per share, with a total value of $17,515.71. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 6,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $428,228.91. This represents a 4.26% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Bankwell Financial Group Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ BWFG opened at $67.65 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $539.17 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.64 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.02. Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.44 and a 52 week high of $69.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $32.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.63 million. Bankwell Financial Group had a net margin of 19.80% and a return on equity of 13.94%. On average, research analysts predict that Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bankwell Financial Group Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bankwell Financial Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Bankwell Financial Group during the second quarter worth approximately $28,974,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Bankwell Financial Group by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 366,963 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,238,000 after buying an additional 13,823 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Bankwell Financial Group by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 319,241 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,489,000 after acquiring an additional 4,795 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Bankwell Financial Group by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 159,384 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,744,000 after acquiring an additional 8,178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Bankwell Financial Group by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 115,711 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,302,000 after acquiring an additional 6,138 shares during the last quarter. 35.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Bankwell Financial Group

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

• Positive Sentiment: Director Lawrence Seidman purchased 5,266 shares for approximately $352,506, increasing his stake by 2.39%. The sizable purchase may signal confidence in BWFG’s valuation and outlook. SEC filing
• Positive Sentiment: Four additional directors—Carl Porto, Blake Drexler, Jeffrey Dunne and Eric Dale—bought a combined 1,234 shares for approximately $82,814 at prices near $67.11. The coordinated purchases reinforce the positive insider-buying signal. Insider trading article
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short interest was zero shares as of September 10, unchanged from the prior reported total of zero. The resulting 0.0-day short-interest ratio suggests limited short-selling activity, although the report’s stated percentage change is not meaningful because both figures are zero.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BWFG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised Bankwell Financial Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Bankwell Financial Group from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Zacks Research raised shares of Bankwell Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Hovde Group boosted their price target on shares of Bankwell Financial Group from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target 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.