Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Friday morning.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on CIVB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Civista Bancshares from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $24.00 target price on shares of Civista Bancshares in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Hovde Group raised shares of Civista Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.50.

Civista Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ CIVB opened at $21.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $21.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.54. Civista Bancshares has a 52-week low of $13.60 and a 52-week high of $23.69. The company has a market cap of $332.52 million, a PE ratio of 10.46 and a beta of 0.81.

Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.10. Civista Bancshares had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 8.35%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Civista Bancshares will post 2.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Civista Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. This is a boost from Civista Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Civista Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.66%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CIVB. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Civista Bancshares in the third quarter worth $45,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Civista Bancshares in the third quarter worth $102,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in shares of Civista Bancshares by 27.8% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 8,999 shares of the bank’s stock worth $189,000 after buying an additional 1,960 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Civista Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth $202,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Civista Bancshares by 4.4% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 13,940 shares of the bank’s stock worth $248,000 after buying an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.10% of the company’s stock.

Civista Bancshares Company Profile

Civista Bancshares, Inc operates as the financial holding company for Civista Bank that provides community banking services. It collects a range of customer deposits; and offers commercial and agriculture, commercial and residential real estate, farm real estate, real estate construction, consumer, and other loans, as well as letters of credit.