Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

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

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

Civista Bancshares Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ CIVB opened at $21.13 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $21.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $332.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.46 and a beta of 0.81. Civista Bancshares has a 12-month low of $13.60 and a 12-month high of $23.69.

Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.10. Civista Bancshares had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 8.35%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Civista Bancshares will post 2.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Civista Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be given a $0.17 dividend. This is a positive change from Civista Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 4th. Civista Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 33.66%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Civista Bancshares

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Civista Bancshares by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 138,838 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,921,000 after acquiring an additional 8,412 shares in the last quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp grew its stake in Civista Bancshares by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 242,450 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,101,000 after acquiring an additional 26,270 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Civista Bancshares by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 833,047 shares of the bank’s stock worth $17,527,000 after acquiring an additional 23,809 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP bought a new position in Civista Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth about $202,000. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in Civista Bancshares by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 54,672 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,150,000 after acquiring an additional 3,151 shares in the last quarter. 52.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Civista Bancshares

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.