First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA) Short Interest Up 65.5% in March

First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 79,600 shares, an increase of 65.5% from the February 28th total of 48,100 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 55,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days. Currently, 0.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of First Bank from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th.

Institutional Trading of First Bank

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. PL Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in First Bank by 1,307.0% during the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,737,940 shares of the bank’s stock worth $94,803,000 after purchasing an additional 6,259,053 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of First Bank by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 890,825 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,534,000 after buying an additional 26,500 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in First Bank by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 890,493 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,529,000 after acquiring an additional 23,012 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in First Bank by 24.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 835,748 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,703,000 after acquiring an additional 161,761 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of First Bank by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 469,214 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,133,000 after purchasing an additional 5,105 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.86% of the company’s stock.

First Bank Stock Performance

FRBA stock traded up $0.11 during trading on Monday, hitting $14.78. 32,841 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 47,660. First Bank has a 1 year low of $11.20 and a 1 year high of $15.87. The company has a market cap of $289.24 million, a PE ratio of 8.85 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11.

First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.03. First Bank had a net margin of 18.41% and a return on equity of 11.06%. On average, equities analysts expect that First Bank will post 1.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Bank Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. First Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.37%.

About First Bank

First Bank provides various banking products and services to small to mid-sized businesses and individuals. The company accepts various deposits, including non-interest-bearing demand deposits, interest bearing demand accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit, as well as commercial checking accounts.