Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

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

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective on shares of Civista Bancshares in a research note on Friday, January 31st. 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 report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Civista Bancshares has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.50.

Civista Bancshares Trading Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ:CIVB opened at $21.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $332.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.46 and a beta of 0.81. Civista Bancshares has a one year low of $13.60 and a one year high of $23.69. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $21.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.58.

Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $0.63 EPS 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Civista Bancshares will post 2.28 EPS for the current year.

Civista Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. This is an increase from Civista Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Civista Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.66%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CIVB. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Civista Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $102,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Civista Bancshares by 130.8% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 63,456 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,131,000 after purchasing an additional 35,968 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Civista Bancshares by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 13,940 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $248,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Civista Bancshares by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 50,135 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $893,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Civista Bancshares by 38.2% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 31,095 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $554,000 after purchasing an additional 8,597 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.10% of the company’s stock.

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.