Primis Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:FRST) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Primis Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:FRST) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 77,000 shares, a decline of 9.3% from the September 30th total of 84,900 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 55,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.4 days. Currently, 0.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Primis Financial Stock Performance

FRST traded up $0.02 on Friday, reaching $11.25. The company had a trading volume of 47,344 shares, compared to its average volume of 65,671. Primis Financial has a fifty-two week low of $9.34 and a fifty-two week high of $13.69. The stock has a market cap of $278.10 million, a P/E ratio of 12.26 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s fifty day moving average is $11.84 and its 200 day moving average is $11.23.

Primis Financial (NASDAQ:FRST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.35). The firm had revenue of $66.40 million during the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Primis Financial will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Primis Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in Primis Financial by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 127,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,555,000 after acquiring an additional 9,078 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Primis Financial by 8.1% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 48,365 shares of the company’s stock valued at $589,000 after purchasing an additional 3,609 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Primis Financial by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,107,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,479,000 after purchasing an additional 7,312 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Primis Financial in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,768,000. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Primis Financial by 125.1% during the 1st quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 204,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,495,000 after purchasing an additional 113,911 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Stephens reduced their price target on Primis Financial from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday.

Primis Financial Company Profile

Primis Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Primis Bank that provides a range of financial services to individuals and small and medium sized businesses in the United States. Its deposit products include checking, NOW, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposits.