First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI) was the target of a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 18,000 shares, a growth of 32.4% from the February 13th total of 13,600 shares. Currently, 0.3% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 11,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.5 days.

Institutional Trading of First Guaranty Bancshares

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FGBI. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 82,497 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $937,000 after purchasing an additional 1,242 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 42,306 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,968 shares during the last quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares by 26.9% in the 4th quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 13,661 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $155,000 after purchasing an additional 2,894 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 valued at $733,000 after purchasing an additional 5,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares by 48.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 26,780 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 8,780 shares during the last quarter. 39.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

First Guaranty Bancshares Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FGBI traded up $0.04 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $6.90. The stock had a trading volume of 3,240 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,205. First Guaranty Bancshares has a one year low of $6.55 and a one year high of $15.25. The company has a market capitalization of $86.28 million, a P/E ratio of 8.52 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.73.

First Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:FGBI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The bank reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.13). First Guaranty Bancshares had a net margin of 5.04% and a return on equity of 5.62%. As a group, research analysts expect that First Guaranty Bancshares will post 0.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.