Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) Downgraded to Sell at StockNews.com

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

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on FFIC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Flushing Financial from $15.50 to $14.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. 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 research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Flushing Financial has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $15.50.

Flushing Financial Stock Performance

Shares of FFIC opened at $11.38 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $12.29 and a 200-day moving average of $13.82. Flushing Financial has a one year low of $9.28 and a one year high of $18.00. The company has a market cap of $330.82 million, a PE ratio of 11.38 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $112.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.12 million. Flushing Financial had a return on equity of 4.31% and a net margin of 6.81%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Flushing Financial will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Flushing Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. Flushing Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.00%.

Insider Activity at Flushing Financial

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Flushing Financial by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,565,212 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,551,000 after acquiring an additional 6,158 shares during the period. EMC Capital Management raised its holdings in Flushing Financial by 116.7% during the third quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 11,493 shares of the bank’s stock worth $151,000 after buying an additional 6,189 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Flushing Financial during the fourth quarter worth $482,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP raised 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 worth $761,000 after buying an additional 32,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its holdings in Flushing Financial by 1.1% during 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.10% of the company’s stock.

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.