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

Civista Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CIVB) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during 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 currently 2.8 days. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on CIVB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Civista Bancshares from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Hovde Group raised shares of Civista Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Civista Bancshares from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the company 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Civista Bancshares has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.75.

Civista Bancshares Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of CIVB stock traded up $0.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $20.88. 54,639 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 49,654. Civista Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $13.60 and a fifty-two week 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. The company has a market capitalization of $328.65 million, a P/E ratio of 10.39 and a beta of 0.82. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.95.

Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Civista Bancshares had a return on equity of 8.33% and a net margin of 13.12%. The firm had revenue of $62.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.60 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Civista Bancshares will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Civista Bancshares Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Civista Bancshares

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Civista Bancshares by 0.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 795,154 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,316,000 after buying an additional 6,234 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Civista Bancshares by 2.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 348,352 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,208,000 after buying an additional 9,501 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Civista Bancshares by 1.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 298,557 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,320,000 after buying an additional 3,112 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Civista Bancshares by 130.8% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 63,456 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,131,000 after buying an additional 35,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in Civista Bancshares by 1.1% in the fourth 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. 52.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.