Lazard Asset Management LLC Buys Shares of 1,361 Flushing Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FFIC)

Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Flushing Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FFIC – Get Rating) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,361 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $26,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Oberweis Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Flushing Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $385,000. Credit Suisse AG grew its holdings in shares of Flushing Financial by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Credit Suisse AG now owns 23,967 shares of the bank’s stock worth $463,000 after purchasing an additional 2,017 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its holdings in shares of Flushing Financial by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 926,625 shares of the bank’s stock worth $17,949,000 after purchasing an additional 3,800 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of Flushing Financial by 1,207.7% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 8,108 shares of the bank’s stock worth $157,000 after purchasing an additional 7,488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of Flushing Financial by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 18,480 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 1,034 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.76% of the company’s stock.

Flushing Financial Price Performance

Flushing Financial stock opened at $17.19 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The company has a market capitalization of $512.69 million, a PE ratio of 6.90 and a beta of 0.67. Flushing Financial Co. has a one year low of $17.13 and a one year high of $23.69.

Flushing Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 9th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.12%. Flushing Financial’s payout ratio is presently 35.34%.

Insider Transactions at Flushing Financial

In related news, EVP Francis W. Korzekwinski sold 7,136 shares of Flushing Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.49, for a total transaction of $139,080.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 73,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,424,231.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 6.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Flushing Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 19th.

About Flushing Financial

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Flushing Financial Corp. operates as a bank holding company, which provides banking and financial services. Its principal business is attracting retail deposits from the general public and investing those deposits together with funds generated from ongoing operations and borrowings, primarily in originations and purchases of multi-family residential properties, commercial business loans, commercial real estate mortgage loans, construction loans, small business administration loans and other small business loans, mortgage loans, U.S.