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

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

First Guaranty Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of FGBI traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $10.37. The stock had a trading volume of 1,871 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,196. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.73 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.16 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The company’s fifty day moving average is $9.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.57. First Guaranty Bancshares has a 52 week low of $8.39 and a 52 week high of $13.78.

First Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:FGBI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 10th. The bank reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $24.23 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.72 million. First Guaranty Bancshares had a net margin of 5.53% and a return on equity of 5.90%. On average, analysts anticipate that First Guaranty Bancshares will post 0.85 EPS for the current year.

First Guaranty Bancshares Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Guaranty Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FGBI. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in First Guaranty Bancshares by 8.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. bought a new position in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth about $786,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $2,761,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.52% of the company’s stock.

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.