Colony Bankcorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBAN) Short Interest Up 8.3% in December

Colony Bankcorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBAN) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 91,300 shares, a growth of 8.3% from the December 15th total of 84,300 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 36,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Colony Bankcorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th.

Institutional Trading of Colony Bankcorp

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Colony Bankcorp by 15.4% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 58,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $711,000 after acquiring an additional 7,726 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Colony Bankcorp by 8.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 508,394 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,228,000 after buying an additional 38,457 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Colony Bankcorp by 3.6% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 95,078 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,165,000 after buying an additional 3,300 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Colony Bankcorp by 40.0% during the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 37,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $581,000 after buying an additional 10,699 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Colony Bankcorp by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 35,478 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $551,000 after acquiring an additional 1,742 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.37% of the company’s stock.

Colony Bankcorp Stock Performance

Colony Bankcorp stock traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $15.78. 102,355 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 34,756. Colony Bankcorp has a twelve month low of $10.33 and a twelve month high of $18.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.37. The firm has a market cap of $276.54 million, a PE ratio of 12.62 and a beta of 0.62.

Colony Bankcorp (NASDAQ:CBAN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $44.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $28.67 million. Colony Bankcorp had a return on equity of 8.86% and a net margin of 12.75%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.34 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Colony Bankcorp will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Colony Bankcorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were paid a $0.112 dividend. This represents a $0.45 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. Colony Bankcorp’s payout ratio is currently 36.00%.

About Colony Bankcorp

Colony Bankcorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Colony Bank that provides various banking products and services to commercial and consumer customers. The company offers deposit products, including demand, savings, and time deposits. It also provides loans to small and medium-sized businesses; residential and commercial construction, and land development loans; commercial real estate loans; commercial loans; agri-business and production loans; residential mortgage loans; home equity loans; and consumer loans.