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

Primis Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:FRST) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 96,900 shares, an increase of 20.5% from the November 30th total of 80,400 shares. Currently, 0.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 69,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Primis Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FRST traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $11.66. 66,030 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 67,571. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $12.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.74. The company has a market cap of $288.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 0.78. Primis Financial has a 12-month low of $9.52 and a 12-month high of $13.69.

Primis Financial (NASDAQ:FRST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.35). The company had revenue of $66.40 million for the quarter. Primis Financial had a return on equity of 3.28% and a net margin of 6.00%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Primis Financial will post 0.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Primis Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Primis Financial’s payout ratio is currently 37.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Primis Financial

In other news, Director F L. Garrett III bought 3,660 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $12.32 per share, for a total transaction of $45,091.20. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 41,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $507,202.08. This trade represents a 9.76 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 10.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Primis Financial

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of FRST. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Primis Financial by 2.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 148,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,552,000 after buying an additional 4,001 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Primis Financial by 13.5% in the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 70,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $740,000 after purchasing an additional 8,398 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Primis Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $105,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Primis Financial by 32.1% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 74,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $776,000 after purchasing an additional 18,000 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Primis Financial by 22.6% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 178,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,867,000 after purchasing an additional 32,896 shares during the last quarter. 74.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Stephens dropped their price objective on Primis Financial from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th.

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.