Primis Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:FRST) Short Interest Update

Primis Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:FRST) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 104,500 shares, a growth of 31.4% from the February 28th total of 79,500 shares. Currently, 0.6% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 94,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.1 days.

Primis Financial Stock Down 0.6 %

FRST traded down $0.06 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $9.71. The company had a trading volume of 12,940 shares, compared to its average volume of 68,507. The company has a market cap of $240.06 million, a PE ratio of -32.37 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a 50-day moving average of $10.58 and a 200-day moving average of $11.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Primis Financial has a 1-year low of $9.52 and a 1-year high of $13.52.

Primis Financial (NASDAQ:FRST) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported ($0.65) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by ($0.76). Primis Financial had a negative return on equity of 2.05% and a negative net margin of 2.97%. As a group, analysts forecast that Primis Financial will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Primis Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 12th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.12%. Primis Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -133.33%.

Insider Activity

In other Primis Financial news, Director John Fitzgerald Biagas bought 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $9.97 per share, with a total value of $99,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 88,469 shares in the company, valued at approximately $882,035.93. This trade represents a 12.74 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last three months, insiders bought 12,025 shares of company stock worth $122,058. 10.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. PL Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Primis Financial by 1,066.0% in the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,541,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,612,000 after acquiring an additional 5,066,069 shares during the last quarter. Fourthstone LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Primis Financial by 263.3% in the 4th quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 898,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,471,000 after purchasing an additional 650,820 shares during the last quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp boosted its position in Primis Financial by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 1,051,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,263,000 after purchasing an additional 106,721 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC bought a new position in Primis Financial during the 4th quarter worth $778,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in Primis Financial by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 389,513 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,542,000 after buying an additional 47,900 shares during the period. 74.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Primis Financial Company Profile

Primis Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Primis Bank that provides a range of financial services to individuals and small and medium sized businesses in the United States. Its deposit products include checking, NOW, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposits.