Short Interest in FB Financial Co. (NYSE:FBK) Declines By 8.5%

FB Financial Co. (NYSE:FBK) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 416,400 shares, a drop of 8.5% from the July 15th total of 455,100 shares. Currently, 1.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 170,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FBK has been the subject of several research reports. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of FB Financial in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on FB Financial from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on FB Financial from $43.00 to $42.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut FB Financial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $46.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.33.

FB Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FBK traded up $0.62 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $45.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 90,487 shares, compared to its average volume of 147,962. FB Financial has a fifty-two week low of $27.42 and a fifty-two week high of $48.30. The company has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.85 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.29.

FB Financial (NYSE:FBK) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.08. FB Financial had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 15.34%. The company had revenue of $128.22 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $123.52 million. On average, analysts forecast that FB Financial will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FB Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 6th will be given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. FB Financial’s payout ratio is 28.57%.

Institutional Trading of FB Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FBK. Heartland Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of FB Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $11,237,000. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of FB Financial by 26.3% during the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,060,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,243,000 after purchasing an additional 220,835 shares in the last quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp bought a new position in shares of FB Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,978,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of FB Financial by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,937,631 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,623,000 after purchasing an additional 106,553 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of FB Financial by 259.9% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 118,569 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,628,000 after purchasing an additional 85,620 shares in the last quarter. 65.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About FB Financial

FB Financial Corporation operates as a bank holding company for FirstBank that provides a suite of commercial and consumer banking services to businesses, professionals, and individuals. The company operates in segments, such as Banking and Mortgage. It offers checking, demand, money market, and savings accounts; deposit and lending products and services to corporate, commercial, and consumer customers; and time deposits and certificates of deposits, as well as residential mortgage loans.