First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI) Short Interest Update

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI) was the target of a significant 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. Approximately 0.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 10,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.2 days.

First Guaranty Bancshares Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of FGBI stock opened at $10.65 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market cap of $133.18 million, a P/E ratio of 21.73 and a beta of 0.30. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $10.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.22. First Guaranty Bancshares has a 12-month low of $8.39 and a 12-month high of $13.32.

First Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:FGBI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $36.77 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.86 million. First Guaranty Bancshares had a return on equity of 5.84% and a net margin of 5.53%. Equities analysts anticipate that First Guaranty Bancshares will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Guaranty Bancshares Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 20th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 20th. First Guaranty Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 65.31%.

Institutional Trading of First Guaranty Bancshares

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cullen Investment Group LTD. lifted its stake in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 71,775 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $730,000 after acquiring an additional 1,082 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in First Guaranty Bancshares by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 272,035 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,761,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in First Guaranty Bancshares by 8.0% in the first 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. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares during the second quarter valued at approximately $138,000. 39.52% of the stock is currently 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.