Short Interest in First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI) Decreases By 6.3%

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 13,400 shares, a decline of 6.3% from the June 30th total of 14,300 shares. Currently, 0.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 16,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.8 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Guaranty Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FGBI. Cullen Investment Group LTD. increased its stake in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares by 1.8% during the second quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 73,049 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $657,000 after purchasing an additional 1,274 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares by 0.8% during 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. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 37,585 shares of the bank’s stock worth $381,000 after buying an additional 2,800 shares during the last quarter. 39.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

First Guaranty Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of FGBI stock traded up $0.16 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $10.37. 1,871 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,196. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $9.74 and its 200 day moving average is $10.57. The company has a market capitalization of $129.73 million, a P/E ratio of 21.16 and a beta of 0.32. First Guaranty Bancshares has a 1 year low of $8.39 and a 1 year high of $13.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

First Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:FGBI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 10th. The bank reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.04. First Guaranty Bancshares had a return on equity of 5.90% and a net margin of 5.53%. The business had revenue of $24.23 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.72 million. Equities research analysts expect that First Guaranty Bancshares will post 0.85 EPS for the current year.

First Guaranty Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 25th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.17%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 25th. First Guaranty Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 130.61%.

First Guaranty Bancshares Company Profile

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.