Flushing Financial Corporation $FFIC Shares Sold by Gamco Investors INC. ET AL

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lowered its holdings in Flushing Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:FFIC) by 12.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 915,950 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 125,500 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in Flushing Financial were worth $12,649,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FFIC. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in Flushing Financial by 9.1% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 17,472 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $222,000 after purchasing an additional 1,453 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in Flushing Financial by 19.4% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 18,875 shares of the bank’s stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 3,062 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Flushing Financial by 104.3% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 523,080 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,643,000 after purchasing an additional 267,013 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Flushing Financial by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 102,944 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,307,000 after buying an additional 8,036 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Flushing Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at $625,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.10% of the company’s stock.

Flushing Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Flushing Financial stock opened at $15.39 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $521.41 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.50 and a beta of 0.82. Flushing Financial Corporation has a 12 month low of $10.65 and a 12 month high of $17.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The bank reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.03). Flushing Financial had a return on equity of 5.96% and a net margin of 3.86%.The business had revenue of $58.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.27 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Flushing Financial Corporation will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Flushing Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Flushing Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 162.96%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on FFIC. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Flushing Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 31st. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Flushing Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Flushing Financial in a report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Flushing Financial from $14.50 to $16.80 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Flushing Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $16.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Flushing Financial

In other news, EVP Thomas Buonaiuto sold 1,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.20, for a total transaction of $25,434.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 35,469 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,597.80. This represents a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 5.66% of the company’s stock.

Flushing Financial Company Profile

Flushing Financial Corporation is the bank holding company for Flushing Bank, a community-oriented financial institution headquartered in Flushing, Queens, New York. Tracing its origins to the founding of Flushing Bank in 1929, the holding company was established in 2006 to support the bank’s growth and diversification. Flushing Financial operates under the Nasdaq ticker FFIC, delivering a full suite of banking services to personal, commercial and institutional customers.

The company’s primary business activities include deposit-taking, consumer and commercial lending, mortgage banking and treasury management.