Empowered Funds LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Civista Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CIVB)

Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Civista Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CIVB) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,617 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 2,482 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC owned 0.33% of Civista Bancshares worth $1,107,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Civista Bancshares by 130.8% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 63,456 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,131,000 after acquiring an additional 35,968 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Civista Bancshares by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 51,521 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $917,000 after purchasing an additional 14,909 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Civista Bancshares by 90.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 25,438 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $453,000 after buying an additional 12,059 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Civista Bancshares by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 348,352 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,208,000 after buying an additional 9,501 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in Civista Bancshares by 38.2% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 31,095 shares of the bank’s stock worth $554,000 after buying an additional 8,597 shares in the last quarter. 52.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Civista Bancshares Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of CIVB opened at $21.13 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $332.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.46 and a beta of 0.81. Civista Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $13.60 and a 1 year high of $23.69. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.58.

Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) last released its quarterly earnings results 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Civista Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Civista Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This is an increase from Civista Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. 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%. Civista Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on CIVB shares. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $24.00 target price on shares of Civista Bancshares in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Hovde Group upgraded shares of Civista Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Civista Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price 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. 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, Civista Bancshares presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.50.

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.