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

Primis Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:FRST) saw a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 104,500 shares, an increase of 31.4% from the February 28th total of 79,500 shares. Approximately 0.6% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 94,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.1 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John Fitzgerald Biagas acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $9.97 per share, with a total value of $99,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 88,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $882,035.93. This represents a 12.74 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders purchased a total of 12,025 shares of company stock valued at $122,058 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 10.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FRST. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Primis Financial by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 30,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $362,000 after purchasing an additional 1,405 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in shares of Primis Financial by 25.7% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 12,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,000 after buying an additional 2,585 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Primis Financial by 4.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,324 shares of the company’s stock worth $723,000 after acquiring an additional 2,708 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new stake in Primis Financial during the fourth quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Primis Financial by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 32,786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 5,345 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.96% of the company’s stock.

Primis Financial Stock Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ FRST traded down $0.06 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $9.73. 39,204 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 68,487. The firm has a market cap of $240.63 million, a PE ratio of -32.52 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Primis Financial has a 52-week low of $9.52 and a 52-week high of $13.52. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.44.

Primis Financial (NASDAQ:FRST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported ($0.65) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by ($0.76). Primis Financial had a negative return on equity of 2.05% and a negative net margin of 2.97%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Primis Financial will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Primis Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 12th. Primis Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -133.33%.

About Primis Financial

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.