Short Interest in First Mid Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMBH) Rises By 12.1%

First Mid Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMBH) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 217,400 shares, a growth of 12.1% from the May 31st total of 194,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 45,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.7 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Mid Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new position in First Mid Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at $65,151,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in First Mid Bancshares by 7.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,292,218 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $42,230,000 after buying an additional 85,434 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in First Mid Bancshares by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 678,953 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $23,533,000 after buying an additional 34,401 shares during the period. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in First Mid Bancshares during the third quarter valued at $10,895,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in First Mid Bancshares by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 294,666 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,213,000 after buying an additional 16,388 shares during the period. 47.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FMBH has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on First Mid Bancshares from $39.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. Hovde Group initiated coverage on First Mid Bancshares in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $35.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.60.

First Mid Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of First Mid Bancshares stock traded down $0.38 during trading on Monday, hitting $32.50. The stock had a trading volume of 53,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,619. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $776.75 million, a P/E ratio of 10.61 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a fifty day moving average of $31.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.81. First Mid Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $23.54 and a fifty-two week high of $35.83.

First Mid Bancshares (NASDAQ:FMBH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $79.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.20 million. First Mid Bancshares had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 17.01%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that First Mid Bancshares will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Mid Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. First Mid Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.68%.

First Mid Bancshares Company Profile

First Mid Bancshares, Inc, a financial holding company, provides community banking products and services to commercial, retail, and agricultural customers in the United States. It accepts various deposit products, such as demand deposits, savings accounts, money market deposits, and time deposits. The company's loan products include commercial real estate, commercial and industrial, agricultural and agricultural real estate, residential real estate, and consumer loans, as well as construction and land development, 1-4 family residential properties, and multifamily residential properties loans; and other loans comprising loans to municipalities to support community projects, such as infrastructure improvements or equipment purchases.