Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on CIVB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Civista Bancshares from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note 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 for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $24.00 target price on shares of Civista Bancshares in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.40.

Civista Bancshares Price Performance

CIVB stock opened at $20.65 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $21.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.70. The stock has a market cap of $325.03 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.22 and a beta of 0.81. Civista Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $13.60 and a fifty-two week high of $23.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.10. Civista Bancshares had a return on equity of 8.35% and a net margin of 12.96%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Civista Bancshares will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Civista Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. This is a boost from Civista Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Civista Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 33.66%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Civista Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIVB. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Civista Bancshares by 210.8% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 149,815 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,152,000 after buying an additional 101,610 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new position in shares of Civista Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,774,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Civista Bancshares by 55.0% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 191,316 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,025,000 after purchasing an additional 67,889 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Civista Bancshares by 166.8% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 92,687 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,950,000 after purchasing an additional 57,950 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Civista Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,059,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.10% of the company’s stock.

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.