Hawthorn Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWBK) Short Interest Up 9.6% in March

Hawthorn Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWBK) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 135,800 shares, an increase of 9.6% from the March 15th total of 123,900 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 18,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hawthorn Bancshares news, Director Jonathan L. States purchased 1,200 shares of Hawthorn Bancshares stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $21.57 per share, for a total transaction of $25,884.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,210.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Hawthorn Bancshares news, Director Jonathan L. States purchased 1,200 shares of Hawthorn Bancshares stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $21.57 per share, for a total transaction of $25,884.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,210.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Douglas Todd Eden purchased 7,000 shares of Hawthorn Bancshares stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $22.32 per share, with a total value of $156,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 80,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,785,600. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased a total of 20,400 shares of company stock worth $426,846 in the last three months. 12.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hawthorn Bancshares

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Hawthorn Bancshares by 13,475.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,629 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,617 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its position in Hawthorn Bancshares by 174.6% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,032 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 1,292 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in Hawthorn Bancshares by 1,356.4% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $99,000 after buying an additional 3,608 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Hawthorn Bancshares by 188.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $156,000 after buying an additional 4,690 shares during the period. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in Hawthorn Bancshares by 99.2% during the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 10,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $163,000 after buying an additional 4,988 shares during the period. 30.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Hawthorn Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd.

Hawthorn Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of Hawthorn Bancshares stock traded down $0.07 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $19.93. The stock had a trading volume of 636 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,804. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $139.91 million, a P/E ratio of 152.05 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a fifty day moving average of $21.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.31. Hawthorn Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $15.02 and a fifty-two week high of $26.00.

Hawthorn Bancshares (NASDAQ:HWBK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported ($1.05) earnings per share for the quarter. Hawthorn Bancshares had a net margin of 0.96% and a return on equity of 0.75%. The firm had revenue of $18.00 million during the quarter.

Hawthorn Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Hawthorn Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 516.95%.

Hawthorn Bancshares Company Profile

Hawthorn Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Hawthorn Bank that provides various banking services in the United States. It accepts checking, savings, money market, individual retirement, and other time deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also offers commercial and industrial, single payment personal, installment, commercial and residential real estate, and consumer loans, as well as equipment, operating, and small business administration loans; and debit and credit cards.