Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of First Defiance Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:FDEF) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning.
According to Zacks, “First Defiance Financial Corp. is a unitary thrift holding company that, through its subsidiaries focuses on traditional banking, mortgage banking, and property and casualty, life and group health insurance products. Their traditional banking activities include originating and servicing residential, commercial, and consumer loans and providing a broad range of depository services. “
Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on First Defiance Financial Corp. from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Monday, August 29th.
First Defiance Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:FDEF) opened at 44.69 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $401.14 million, a PE ratio of 14.81 and a beta of 0.77. First Defiance Financial Corp. has a one year low of $34.80 and a one year high of $46.83. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $44.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.70.
First Defiance Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:FDEF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 18th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.10. First Defiance Financial Corp. had a return on equity of 9.80% and a net margin of 23.67%. Equities analysts forecast that First Defiance Financial Corp. will post $3.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 26th. Investors of record on Friday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 17th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. First Defiance Financial Corp.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.24%.
In other First Defiance Financial Corp. news, insider Gregory R. Allen sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.03, for a total value of $43,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 16,092 shares in the company, valued at $692,438.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.
A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FDEF. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in First Defiance Financial Corp. by 13.3% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,802 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in First Defiance Financial Corp. by 1,228.1% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $118,000 after buying an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its position in First Defiance Financial Corp. by 1.9% in the second quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,893 shares of the company’s stock valued at $152,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Smith Asset Management Group LP increased its position in First Defiance Financial Corp. by 69.0% in the second quarter. Smith Asset Management Group LP now owns 8,324 shares of the company’s stock valued at $323,000 after buying an additional 3,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sigma Planning Corp purchased a new position in First Defiance Financial Corp. during the second quarter valued at approximately $433,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.05% of the company’s stock.
First Defiance Financial Corp. Company Profile
First Defiance Financial Corp. (First Defiance) is a unitary thrift holding company that focuses on traditional banking and property and casualty, life and group health insurance products. The Company operates through its subsidiaries, First Federal Bank of the Midwest (First Federal or the Bank), First Insurance Group of the Midwest, Inc (First Insurance) and First Defiance Risk Management Inc First Federal is a federally chartered stock savings bank.