First Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:FGBI) Shares Pass Above 50-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI) crossed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of $9.55 and traded as high as $10.84. First Guaranty Bancshares shares last traded at $10.5390, with a volume of 28,255 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of First Guaranty Bancshares in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, First Guaranty Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

First Guaranty Bancshares Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $9.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.28. The company has a market cap of $173.51 million, a PE ratio of -3.29 and a beta of 0.44.

First Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:FGBI) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The bank reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $22.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.15 million. First Guaranty Bancshares had a negative net margin of 21.47% and a negative return on equity of 17.06%. On average, equities analysts expect 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 26th will be given a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 26th. First Guaranty Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently -1.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Guaranty Bancshares news, Director Edgar R. Smith III bought 138,083 shares of First Guaranty Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $7.77 per share, for a total transaction of $1,072,904.91. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 675,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,247,461.73. This trade represents a 25.70% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Mcanally acquired 109,051 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $9.17 per share, with a total value of $999,997.67. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 441,587 shares in the company, valued at $4,049,352.79. This represents a 32.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders bought a total of 420,537 shares of company stock valued at $3,572,915 in the last quarter. 47.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Guaranty Bancshares

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in First Guaranty Bancshares by 1,288.4% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 6,942 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 6,442 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares by 135.6% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 11,478 shares of the bank’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 6,606 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares by 60.1% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 28,347 shares of the bank’s stock worth $152,000 after purchasing an additional 10,641 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares by 11.1% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 49,565 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 4,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares by 8.8% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 46,048 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $355,000 after buying an additional 3,742 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 39.52% of the company’s stock.

About First Guaranty Bancshares

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc is a financial holding company headquartered in Hammond, Louisiana. Through its principal subsidiary, First Guaranty Bank, the company provides a diversified range of commercial and retail banking services. Founded in 1932, First Guaranty Bancshares has grown from a community mutual bank into a publicly traded institution listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker FGBI.

The company’s core business activities encompass traditional deposit products and lending solutions.