Civista Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CIVB) Short Interest Up 15.6% in December

Civista Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CIVB) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 164,600 shares, a growth of 15.6% from the December 15th total of 142,400 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 59,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on CIVB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Civista Bancshares from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Hovde Group upgraded Civista Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Stephens upped their price target on shares of Civista Bancshares from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Civista Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.75.

Institutional Trading of Civista Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CIVB. Inspire Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Civista Bancshares by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 52,528 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,105,000 after acquiring an additional 554 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Civista Bancshares by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,624 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $139,000 after purchasing an additional 892 shares in the last quarter. Park National Corp OH increased its position in shares of Civista Bancshares by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 25,275 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $532,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Civista Bancshares by 90.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 25,438 shares of the bank’s stock worth $453,000 after buying an additional 12,059 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Civista Bancshares by 40.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 51,521 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $917,000 after buying an additional 14,909 shares during the period. 52.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Civista Bancshares Stock Performance

CIVB stock traded up $0.39 on Friday, reaching $20.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 54,639 shares, compared to its average volume of 49,654. Civista Bancshares has a 52 week low of $13.60 and a 52 week high of $23.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $328.65 million, a P/E ratio of 10.39 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $21.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.92.

Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $62.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.60 million. Civista Bancshares had a return on equity of 8.33% and a net margin of 13.12%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Civista Bancshares will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Civista Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 5th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. Civista Bancshares’s payout ratio is 31.84%.

Civista Bancshares Company Profile

Civista Bancshares, Inc operates as the financial holding company for Civista Bank that provides community banking services. It collects a range of customer deposits; and offers commercial and agriculture, commercial and residential real estate, farm real estate, real estate construction, consumer, and other loans, as well as letters of credit.