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

Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on FFIC. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Flushing Financial from $17.00 to $13.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Flushing Financial from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased 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. One investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.17.

Flushing Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ FFIC opened at $11.37 on Thursday. Flushing Financial has a 12 month low of $9.28 and a 12 month high of $18.00. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $330.51 million, a PE ratio of 11.37 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.80.

Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.14 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $112.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.12 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.10 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Flushing Financial will post 0.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Flushing Financial

In related news, EVP Thomas Buonaiuto sold 19,000 shares of Flushing Financial 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 32,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $427,885.11. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Thomas Buonaiuto sold 19,000 shares of Flushing Financial 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 32,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $427,885.11. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Francis W. Korzekwinski sold 7,649 shares of Flushing Financial 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 73,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $926,746.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Flushing Financial by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,565,212 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,551,000 after acquiring an additional 6,158 shares during the last quarter. EMC Capital Management lifted its position in Flushing Financial by 116.7% during the 3rd quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 11,493 shares of the bank’s stock worth $151,000 after acquiring an additional 6,189 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Flushing Financial during the 4th quarter worth $482,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its position in Flushing Financial by 130.4% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 57,956 shares of the bank’s stock worth $761,000 after acquiring an additional 32,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its position in Flushing Financial by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 1,158,402 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,210,000 after acquiring 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.