Legato Capital Management LLC Makes New $443,000 Investment in Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. $BWFG

Legato Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:BWFG) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 9,669 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $443,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bankwell Financial Group by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 366,963 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,238,000 after purchasing an additional 13,823 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Bankwell Financial Group by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 313,194 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,860,000 after purchasing an additional 10,891 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Bankwell Financial Group by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 159,384 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,744,000 after purchasing an additional 8,178 shares during the last quarter. Siena Capital Partners GP LLC lifted its position in shares of Bankwell Financial Group by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Siena Capital Partners GP LLC now owns 116,138 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,139,000 after purchasing an additional 5,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GM Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Bankwell Financial Group by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 105,587 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,672,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. 35.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BWFG shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Bankwell Financial Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Hovde Group boosted their price target on shares of Bankwell Financial Group from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Bankwell Financial Group from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Bankwell Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bankwell Financial Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.00.

Insider Activity at Bankwell Financial Group

In related news, Director Eric J. Dale purchased 612 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $46.00 per share, with a total value of $28,152.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 41,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,927,768. This trade represents a 1.48% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christine Chivily sold 4,321 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.16, for a total transaction of $225,383.36. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 11,865 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $618,878.40. This trade represents a 26.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 27,316 shares of company stock valued at $1,285,097. Company insiders own 20.98% of the company’s stock.

Bankwell Financial Group Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of BWFG opened at $52.68 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $50.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.50. Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.85 and a twelve month high of $53.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $419.86 million, a P/E ratio of 10.58 and a beta of 0.63.

Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.18. Bankwell Financial Group had a net margin of 18.71% and a return on equity of 13.31%. The company had revenue of $30.23 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.47 million. On average, research analysts predict that Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bankwell Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 19th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Bankwell Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.06%.

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.