Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

CIVB has been the subject of several other reports. Hovde Group upgraded shares of Civista Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Civista Bancshares from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective on shares of Civista Bancshares in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Civista Bancshares has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.40.

Civista Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of CIVB opened at $20.64 on Friday. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.76. Civista Bancshares has a 1-year low of $13.60 and a 1-year high of $23.69. The company has a market cap of $324.81 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.22 and a beta of 0.81.

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

Civista Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. This is an increase from Civista Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 4th. Civista Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.66%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CIVB. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Civista Bancshares by 210.8% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 149,815 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,152,000 after buying an additional 101,610 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new stake in shares of Civista Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,774,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Civista Bancshares by 55.0% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 191,316 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,025,000 after purchasing an additional 67,889 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its position in Civista Bancshares by 166.8% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 92,687 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,950,000 after purchasing an additional 57,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Civista Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at $1,059,000. 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.