First Financial Northwest, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFNW) Short Interest Down 8.4% in September

First Financial Northwest, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFNW) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 174,500 shares, a drop of 8.4% from the September 15th total of 190,600 shares. Currently, 2.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 39,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.4 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FFNW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler downgraded First Financial Northwest from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $23.50 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of First Financial Northwest from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th.

First Financial Northwest Price Performance

Shares of FFNW stock traded up $0.08 on Thursday, reaching $23.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 20,836 shares, compared to its average volume of 40,384. The company has a market capitalization of $211.46 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.61 and a beta of 0.53. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. First Financial Northwest has a 1 year low of $10.09 and a 1 year high of $23.50.

First Financial Northwest (NASDAQ:FFNW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $19.99 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.60 million. First Financial Northwest had a return on equity of 1.98% and a net margin of 3.89%. Analysts forecast that First Financial Northwest will post 0.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FFNW. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of First Financial Northwest by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 368,446 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,575,000 after acquiring an additional 21,447 shares during the last quarter. Black Maple Capital Management LP lifted its stake in First Financial Northwest by 45.8% in the first quarter. Black Maple Capital Management LP now owns 141,677 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,913,000 after purchasing an additional 44,494 shares during the last quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Financial Northwest during the second quarter valued at approximately $411,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of First Financial Northwest by 45.2% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 63,223 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,336,000 after buying an additional 19,670 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of First Financial Northwest by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 11,986 shares of the bank’s stock worth $253,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. 55.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Financial Northwest Company Profile

First Financial Northwest, Inc operates as the bank holding company for First Financial Northwest Bank that provides commercial banking services in Washington. The company offers a range of deposit products, including noninterest-bearing accounts, interest-bearing demand accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit.