First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA) Short Interest Update

First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 74,700 shares, a decrease of 17.6% from the August 15th total of 90,700 shares. Currently, 0.4% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 54,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Bank

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of FRBA. IAM Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of First Bank by 0.5% in the second quarter. IAM Advisory LLC now owns 186,682 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,378,000 after acquiring an additional 882 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in First Bank by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 23,511 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 2,655 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in First Bank by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 673,987 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,908,000 after purchasing an additional 3,800 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of First Bank by 88.0% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 10,013 shares of the bank’s stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 4,688 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Bank by 8.1% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 74,461 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,023,000 after buying an additional 5,600 shares in the last quarter. 64.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Bank Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of FRBA stock opened at $15.45 on Wednesday. First Bank has a 1-year low of $10.51 and a 1-year high of $15.80. The company has a market cap of $302.34 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.67 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $14.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.25.

First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.07. First Bank had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 12.38%. The company had revenue of $56.25 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.95 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that First Bank will post 1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Bank Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. First Bank’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of First Bank from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on First Bank from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th.

About First Bank

First Bank provides various banking products and services to small to mid-sized businesses and individuals. The company accepts various deposits, including non-interest-bearing demand deposits, interest bearing demand accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit, as well as commercial checking accounts.