Colony Bankcorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBAN) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Colony Bankcorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBAN) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 93,500 shares, an increase of 31.5% from the February 28th total of 71,100 shares. Approximately 0.6% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 68,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Colony Bankcorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Colony Bankcorp by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 144,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,334,000 after acquiring an additional 955 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P lifted its position in shares of Colony Bankcorp by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 48,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $784,000 after purchasing an additional 1,108 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Colony Bankcorp by 152.1% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,032 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,226 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Colony Bankcorp by 3.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 46,458 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $721,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Colony Bankcorp by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 47,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $762,000 after buying an additional 1,608 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 50.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Colony Bankcorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th.

Colony Bankcorp Stock Performance

Colony Bankcorp stock opened at $16.21 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $283.95 million, a PE ratio of 12.01 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $16.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.31. Colony Bankcorp has a fifty-two week low of $10.33 and a fifty-two week high of $18.49.

Colony Bankcorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were issued a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. This is a boost from Colony Bankcorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 5th. Colony Bankcorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.07%.

About Colony Bankcorp

Colony Bankcorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Colony Bank that provides various banking products and services to commercial and consumer customers. The company offers deposit products, including demand, savings, and time deposits. It also provides loans to small and medium-sized businesses; residential and commercial construction, and land development loans; commercial real estate loans; commercial loans; agri-business and production loans; residential mortgage loans; home equity loans; and consumer loans.