First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI) Short Interest Up 8.1% in September

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI) was the target of a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,000 shares, a growth of 8.1% from the August 31st total of 11,100 shares. Currently, 0.2% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 10,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.2 days.

First Guaranty Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of FGBI opened at $10.61 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $132.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.65 and a beta of 0.30. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.22. First Guaranty Bancshares has a 12 month low of $8.39 and a 12 month high of $13.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

First Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:FGBI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.33. First Guaranty Bancshares had a return on equity of 5.84% and a net margin of 5.53%. The company had revenue of $36.77 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.86 million. Research analysts anticipate that First Guaranty Bancshares will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Guaranty Bancshares Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 20th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 20th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. First Guaranty Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.31%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in First Guaranty Bancshares in the second quarter valued at about $138,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 37,585 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. boosted its holdings in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares by 1.8% in the second quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 73,049 shares of the bank’s stock worth $657,000 after buying an additional 1,274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 272,035 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,761,000 after buying an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. 39.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About First Guaranty Bancshares

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc operates as the holding company for First Guaranty Bank that provides commercial banking services in Louisiana and Texas. It offers various deposit products, including personal and business checking, savings, money market, and demand accounts, as well as time deposits to consumers, small businesses, and municipalities.