Primis Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:FRST) Short Interest Update

Primis Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:FRST) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 81,000 shares, a growth of 5.2% from the October 15th total of 77,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 57,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.4 days. Currently, 0.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Primis Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Primis Financial by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,107,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,479,000 after purchasing an additional 7,312 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Primis Financial by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,104,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,574,000 after purchasing an additional 23,653 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Primis Financial by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 466,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,679,000 after purchasing an additional 10,656 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Primis Financial by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 423,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,157,000 after purchasing an additional 10,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Primis Financial by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 393,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,794,000 after purchasing an additional 49,735 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.96% of the company’s stock.

Primis Financial Stock Performance

FRST stock opened at $12.23 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Primis Financial has a fifty-two week low of $9.52 and a fifty-two week high of $13.69. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $11.88 and a 200-day moving average of $11.38.

Primis Financial (NASDAQ:FRST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.35). The firm had revenue of $66.40 million for the quarter. Primis Financial had a return on equity of 4.65% and a net margin of 7.31%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Primis Financial will post 0.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Primis Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Stephens cut their price target on Primis Financial from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th.

Primis Financial Company Profile

Primis Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Primis Bank that provides a range of financial services to individuals and small and medium sized businesses in the United States. Its deposit products include checking, NOW, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposits.