Hawthorn Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWBK) Short Interest Down 13.5% in May

Hawthorn Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWBK) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 164,100 shares, a drop of 13.5% from the May 15th total of 189,700 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 10,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 15.9 days. Currently, 2.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Activity

In other Hawthorn Bancshares news, Director Douglas Todd Eden acquired 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $19.63 per share, with a total value of $294,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 76,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,094.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Douglas Todd Eden bought 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $19.63 per share, for a total transaction of $294,450.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 76,826 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,094.38. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Jonathan Holtaway bought 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $19.19 per share, for a total transaction of $105,545.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 21,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,990. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 23,500 shares of company stock valued at $457,135 over the last three months. Insiders own 23.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hawthorn Bancshares

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HWBK. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hawthorn Bancshares in the 1st quarter valued at $240,000. Gendell Jeffrey L boosted its holdings in shares of Hawthorn Bancshares by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Gendell Jeffrey L now owns 16,505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 634 shares in the last quarter. Alexander Labrunerie & CO. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hawthorn Bancshares in the 1st quarter valued at $381,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hawthorn Bancshares by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 24,029 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,000 after purchasing an additional 1,750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hawthorn Bancshares by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 278,318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,686,000 after purchasing an additional 12,800 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 30.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Hawthorn Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd.

Hawthorn Bancshares Price Performance

Hawthorn Bancshares stock traded up $0.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $19.69. 8,505 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,731. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.61. Hawthorn Bancshares has a 12 month low of $15.02 and a 12 month high of $26.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market cap of $137.83 million, a PE ratio of 65.63 and a beta of 0.57.

Hawthorn Bancshares (NASDAQ:HWBK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter. Hawthorn Bancshares had a return on equity of 1.65% and a net margin of 2.09%. The firm had revenue of $17.77 million for the quarter.

Hawthorn Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This is a positive change from Hawthorn Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Hawthorn Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 226.67%.

About Hawthorn Bancshares

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.