Short Interest in Civista Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CIVB) Increases By 5.2%

Civista Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CIVB) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 124,800 shares, a growth of 5.2% from the July 31st total of 118,600 shares. Currently, 0.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 47,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Civista Bancshares Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CIVB opened at $16.97 on Tuesday. Civista Bancshares has a 1 year low of $13.60 and a 1 year high of $19.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $266.89 million, a PE ratio of 7.28 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The bank reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.05. Civista Bancshares had a return on equity of 9.24% and a net margin of 14.48%. The business had revenue of $61.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Civista Bancshares will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Civista Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 6th were issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. Civista Bancshares’s payout ratio is 27.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CIVB. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Civista Bancshares from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price objective (up from $18.00) on shares of Civista Bancshares in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.25.

Insider Activity

In other Civista Bancshares news, Director Julie A. Mattlin acquired 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $15.60 per share, for a total transaction of $31,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $194,095.20. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Civista Bancshares

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Civista Bancshares during the first quarter worth $63,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Civista Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth $109,000. Gendell Jeffrey L acquired a new position in shares of Civista Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth $184,000. Princeton Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Civista Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at $189,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Civista Bancshares by 10,347.5% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 12,746 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $197,000 after acquiring an additional 12,624 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.10% of the company’s stock.

About Civista Bancshares

Civista Bancshares, Inc operates as the financial holding company for Civista Bank that provides community banking services. It collects a range of customer deposits; and offers commercial and agriculture, commercial and residential real estate, farm real estate, real estate construction, consumer, and other loans, as well as letters of credit.