TriCo Bancshares (NASDAQ:TCBK) Short Interest Up 23.3% in December

TriCo Bancshares (NASDAQ:TCBK) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 283,600 shares, a growth of 23.3% from the November 30th total of 230,100 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 113,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Insider Transactions at TriCo Bancshares

In other news, Director Cory W. Giese sold 5,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.47, for a total value of $252,297.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $303,152.16. This represents a 45.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 4.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of TriCo Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in TriCo Bancshares by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,502,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $59,471,000 after purchasing an additional 50,358 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in TriCo Bancshares by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 781,650 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,344,000 after buying an additional 5,155 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in TriCo Bancshares by 6.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 446,455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,041,000 after buying an additional 25,817 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in TriCo Bancshares by 27.3% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 403,712 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,975,000 after acquiring an additional 86,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Curi RMB Capital LLC grew its holdings in TriCo Bancshares by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 346,833 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,792,000 after acquiring an additional 5,314 shares during the period. 59.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TCBK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on TriCo Bancshares from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Stephens cut their price target on shares of TriCo Bancshares from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, DA Davidson cut shares of TriCo Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.20.

TriCo Bancshares Trading Down 1.2 %

TCBK opened at $43.52 on Tuesday. TriCo Bancshares has a 1-year low of $31.73 and a 1-year high of $51.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a PE ratio of 12.95 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $46.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.78.

TriCo Bancshares (NASDAQ:TCBK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.06. TriCo Bancshares had a net margin of 21.12% and a return on equity of 9.45%. The business had revenue of $133.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $98.65 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that TriCo Bancshares will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TriCo Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. TriCo Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.29%.

About TriCo Bancshares

TriCo Bancshares operates as a bank holding company for Tri Counties Bank that provides commercial banking services to individual and corporate customers. The company accepts demand, savings, and time deposits. It also provides small business loans; real estate mortgage loans, such as residential and commercial loans; consumer loans; mortgage, auto, other vehicle, and personal loans; commercial loans, including agricultural loans; and real estate construction loans.