First Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:FGBI) Director Buys $70,960.00 in Stock

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI) Director Robert Walker acquired 4,000 shares of First Guaranty Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $17.74 per share, with a total value of $70,960.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 11,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,593.48. This represents a 51.93% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

First Guaranty Bancshares Stock Up 2.5%

NASDAQ FGBI traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $8.70. 19,890 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 28,140. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $143.89 million, a PE ratio of -3.60 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.21. First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $4.31 and a 52 week high of $11.02.

First Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:FGBI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The bank reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $24.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.66 million. First Guaranty Bancshares had a negative return on equity of 12.25% and a negative net margin of 16.83%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. will post 0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

First Guaranty Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 25th will be issued a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 25th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. First Guaranty Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently -1.65%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Guaranty Bancshares

An institutional investor recently raised its position in First Guaranty Bancshares stock. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI) by 1,288.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,942 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 6,442 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC’s holdings in First Guaranty Bancshares were worth $56,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. 39.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FGBI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of First Guaranty Bancshares from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of First Guaranty Bancshares to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Guaranty Bancshares presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

About First Guaranty Bancshares

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Hammond, Louisiana. Through its principal subsidiary, First Guaranty Bank, the company provides community banking services to individuals, businesses and organizations.

First Guaranty Bank offers deposit products such as checking, savings and money market accounts, certificates of deposit and business deposits. Its lending activities include commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate financing, construction and development loans, residential real estate loans, agricultural lending and consumer loans.

The bank also provides treasury management, online and mobile banking, cash management and other financial services.