First Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:FGBI) Director Edgar Smith III Acquires 208,996 Shares

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI) Director Edgar Smith III bought 208,996 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 31st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $5.40 per share, for a total transaction of $1,128,578.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 537,266 shares in the company, valued at $2,901,236.40. This trade represents a 63.67% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

First Guaranty Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of FGBI opened at $5.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $5.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $7.33. The stock has a market cap of $82.60 million, a P/E ratio of -1.30 and a beta of 0.36. First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $4.31 and a one year high of $11.22.

First Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:FGBI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 31st. The bank reported ($3.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. First Guaranty Bancshares had a negative return on equity of 20.76% and a negative net margin of 25.11%.The firm had revenue of $24.10 million during the quarter. As a group, research analysts predict that First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. will post 0.89 EPS for the current year.

First Guaranty Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 26th were issued a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 26th. First Guaranty Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -0.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on FGBI. Zacks Research raised First Guaranty Bancshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of First Guaranty Bancshares in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, First Guaranty Bancshares has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Guaranty Bancshares

An institutional investor recently raised its position in First Guaranty Bancshares stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI) by 11.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,565 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,956 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC owned about 0.38% of First Guaranty Bancshares worth $379,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Institutional investors own 39.52% of the company’s stock.

First Guaranty Bancshares Company Profile

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.