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

Civista Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CIVB) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 164,600 shares, an increase of 15.6% from the December 15th total of 142,400 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 59,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Civista Bancshares Trading Up 1.9 %

CIVB traded up $0.39 during trading on Friday, reaching $20.88. The company had a trading volume of 54,639 shares, compared to its average volume of 49,654. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.95. The company has a market cap of $328.65 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.39 and a beta of 0.82. Civista Bancshares has a 12-month low of $13.60 and a 12-month high of $23.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $62.43 million for 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 last year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Civista Bancshares will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Civista Bancshares Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Civista Bancshares

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

About Civista Bancshares

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.