First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI) Short Interest Up 32.4% in February

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 18,000 shares, an increase of 32.4% from the February 13th total of 13,600 shares. Currently, 0.3% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 11,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.5 days.

Institutional Trading of First Guaranty Bancshares

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares by 5.2% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 40,338 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $430,000 after buying an additional 2,010 shares during the last quarter. Fourthstone LLC purchased a new position in First Guaranty Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth $366,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 68,788 shares of the bank’s stock worth $733,000 after acquiring an additional 5,070 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at about $122,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at about $400,000. 39.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Guaranty Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of FGBI stock opened at $6.89 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.70. First Guaranty Bancshares has a 12 month low of $6.56 and a 12 month high of $15.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.16 million, a PE ratio of 8.51 and a beta of 0.42.

First Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:FGBI) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The bank reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.13). First Guaranty Bancshares had a return on equity of 5.62% and a net margin of 5.04%. Analysts forecast that First Guaranty Bancshares will post 0.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.