Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Flushing Financial from $15.50 to $14.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Flushing Financial from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Flushing Financial from $17.00 to $13.50 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $15.17.

Flushing Financial Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of FFIC stock opened at $11.37 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $12.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.80. The company has a market capitalization of $330.53 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.37 and a beta of 0.73. Flushing Financial has a one year low of $9.28 and a one year high of $18.00.

Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Flushing Financial had a return on equity of 4.31% and a net margin of 6.81%. The business had revenue of $112.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.12 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Flushing Financial will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flushing Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. Flushing Financial’s payout ratio is 88.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Flushing Financial

In other news, EVP Francis W. Korzekwinski sold 7,649 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.61, for a total transaction of $96,453.89. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 73,493 shares in the company, valued at approximately $926,746.73. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Francis W. Korzekwinski sold 7,649 shares of Flushing Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.61, for a total value of $96,453.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 73,493 shares in the company, valued at approximately $926,746.73. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas Buonaiuto sold 19,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.21, for a total value of $250,990.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 32,391 shares in the company, valued at approximately $427,885.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flushing Financial

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FFIC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Flushing Financial by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,565,212 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,551,000 after purchasing an additional 6,158 shares in the last quarter. EMC Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Flushing Financial by 116.7% during the third quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 11,493 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 6,189 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Flushing Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $482,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its holdings in Flushing Financial by 130.4% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 57,956 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $761,000 after buying an additional 32,805 shares during the period. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its stake in Flushing Financial by 1.1% in the third quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 1,158,402 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,210,000 after buying an additional 12,602 shares in the last quarter. 67.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.