Franklin Financial Services Co. (NASDAQ:FRAF) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Franklin Financial Services Co. (NASDAQ:FRAF) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,100 shares, an increase of 52.8% from the May 31st total of 5,300 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.3 days. Approximately 0.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Franklin Financial Services news, Director Gregory A. Duffey bought 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $29.00 per share, with a total value of $58,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $520,956. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have acquired 4,690 shares of company stock valued at $130,039 in the last ninety days. 6.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Franklin Financial Services

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FRAF. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA raised its position in shares of Franklin Financial Services by 2,181.8% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 41,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,315,000 after buying an additional 39,862 shares during the period. RKL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Financial Services during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $285,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Franklin Financial Services by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 27,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $731,000 after buying an additional 2,100 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Franklin Financial Services by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 149,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,923,000 after buying an additional 3,436 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.80% of the company’s stock.

Franklin Financial Services Trading Up 0.1 %

FRAF opened at $28.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.25. Franklin Financial Services has a 1-year low of $25.11 and a 1-year high of $35.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.43 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06 and a beta of 0.34.

Franklin Financial Services (NASDAQ:FRAF) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter. Franklin Financial Services had a net margin of 13.69% and a return on equity of 10.91%. The business had revenue of $17.74 million for the quarter.

Franklin Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 2nd were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.53%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 1st. Franklin Financial Services’s payout ratio is presently 41.03%.

About Franklin Financial Services

Franklin Financial Services Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Farmers and Merchants Trust Company of Chambersburg that provides commercial, retail banking, and trust services to businesses, individuals, governmental entities, and non-profit organizations in Pennsylvania. It offers various deposit products, including checking, savings, money management, and time deposit accounts, as well as demand deposits.