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

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 12,700 shares, a growth of 9.5% from the December 15th total of 11,600 shares. Currently, 0.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 11,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.1 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Arkadios Wealth Advisors bought a new stake in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth about $122,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in First Guaranty Bancshares during the second quarter worth about $138,000. Fourthstone LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares during the third quarter worth approximately $366,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares by 5.2% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 40,338 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $430,000 after acquiring an additional 2,010 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 68,788 shares of the bank’s stock worth $733,000 after acquiring an additional 5,070 shares in the last quarter. 39.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Guaranty Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ FGBI traded up $0.23 during trading on Monday, reaching $10.82. 5,316 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,573. First Guaranty Bancshares has a 1-year low of $8.39 and a 1-year high of $15.25. The company has a market cap of $135.36 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.88 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $12.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91.

First Guaranty Bancshares Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.01 dividend. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. First Guaranty Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 4.76%.

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.