First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI) Short Interest Up 32.4% in February

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of 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 shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 11,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.5 days.

Institutional Trading of First Guaranty Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 40,338 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $430,000 after purchasing an additional 2,010 shares during the last quarter. Fourthstone LLC bought a new stake in First Guaranty Bancshares during the third quarter valued at $366,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in First Guaranty Bancshares by 8.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 68,788 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $733,000 after acquiring an additional 5,070 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors acquired a new stake in First Guaranty Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth about $122,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth about $400,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.52% of the company’s stock.

First Guaranty Bancshares Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:FGBI opened at $6.89 on Wednesday. First Guaranty Bancshares has a one year low of $6.56 and a one year high of $15.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market cap of $86.16 million, a PE ratio of 8.51 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.70.

First Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:FGBI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The bank reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.13). First Guaranty Bancshares had a return on equity of 5.62% and a net margin of 5.04%. On average, research analysts anticipate that First Guaranty Bancshares will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current 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.