Short Interest in Civista Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CIVB) Grows By 15.6%

Civista Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CIVB) saw a large increase in short interest in 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. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 59,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Civista Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CIVB. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in Civista Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $45,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Civista Bancshares during the third quarter worth $102,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Civista Bancshares by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 13,940 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of Civista Bancshares by 30.9% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 21,127 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $318,000 after acquiring an additional 4,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Civista Bancshares during the 2nd quarter valued at $323,000. 52.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Civista Bancshares Stock Up 1.9 %

CIVB traded up $0.39 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $20.88. 54,639 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 49,654. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $21.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.95. 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 has a 1-year low of $13.60 and a 1-year high of $23.69. The stock has a market cap of $328.65 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.39 and a beta of 0.82.

Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.09. Civista Bancshares had a net margin of 13.12% and a return on equity of 8.33%. The company had revenue of $62.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Civista Bancshares will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Civista Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company 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. 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 payout ratio is 31.84%.

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.