Edgar Smith III Buys 208,996 Shares of First Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:FGBI) Stock

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI) Director Edgar Smith III bought 208,996 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 31st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $5.40 per share, for a total transaction of $1,128,578.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 537,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,901,236.40. This trade represents a 63.67% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

First Guaranty Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of First Guaranty Bancshares stock traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $5.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,717. First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $4.31 and a one year high of $11.22. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.34. 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 market cap of $82.58 million, a P/E ratio of -1.30 and a beta of 0.33.

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

First Guaranty Bancshares Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of First Guaranty Bancshares

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in First Guaranty Bancshares stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI) by 11.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,565 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 4,956 shares during the quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC owned 0.38% of First Guaranty Bancshares worth $379,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. 39.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.