Colony Bankcorp (NYSE:CBAN) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Colony Bankcorp (NYSE:CBAN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CBAN. Zacks Research raised Colony Bankcorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings raised Colony Bankcorp from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Hovde Group boosted their price target on Colony Bankcorp from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have assigned a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.00.

Colony Bankcorp Stock Performance

NYSE CBAN opened at $21.84 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $20.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.27. The stock has a market cap of $463.44 million, a PE ratio of 13.24 and a beta of 0.55. Colony Bankcorp has a fifty-two week low of $15.80 and a fifty-two week high of $22.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Colony Bankcorp (NYSE:CBAN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.04. Colony Bankcorp had a net margin of 15.42% and a return on equity of 10.40%. The company had revenue of $42.03 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.90 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Colony Bankcorp will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Colony Bankcorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 5th. Colony Bankcorp’s payout ratio is 29.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Colony Bankcorp

In related news, insider Edward G. Canup acquired 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $21.80 per share, for a total transaction of $43,600.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 36,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $800,103.60. This trade represents a 5.76% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.92% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Colony Bankcorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Colony Bankcorp in the second quarter worth approximately $46,935,000. Fourthstone LLC increased its position in Colony Bankcorp by 165.9% during the 4th quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 1,711,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,494,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067,540 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Colony Bankcorp by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 945,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,081,000 after purchasing an additional 41,879 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Colony Bankcorp by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 737,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,732,000 after purchasing an additional 14,965 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Colony Bankcorp by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 385,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,873,000 after purchasing an additional 3,734 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.37% of the company’s stock.

About Colony Bankcorp

Colony Bankcorp, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Baxley, Georgia, that operates through its primary subsidiary, The Colony Bank. The company’s core focus is on delivering community banking services tailored to individuals, small businesses and agricultural customers throughout Georgia and Florida. Colony Bankcorp’s structure supports a full suite of deposit and lending solutions designed to meet the needs of local markets.

The company offers a range of deposit products, including personal and business checking accounts, savings and money market accounts, and certificates of deposit.