Insider Buying: Primis Financial (NASDAQ:FRST) Director Acquires $19,842.72 in Stock

Primis Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:FRST) Director Deborah Diaz acquired 1,608 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $12.34 per share, for a total transaction of $19,842.72. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $247,688.48. This trade represents a 8.71% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Primis Financial Stock Up 4.1%

FRST opened at $13.38 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $10.89 and a 200-day moving average of $10.85. The company has a market capitalization of $329.68 million, a P/E ratio of 95.57 and a beta of 0.81. Primis Financial Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $7.59 and a fifty-two week high of $13.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.02.

Primis Financial (NASDAQ:FRST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $41.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.96 million. Primis Financial had a negative return on equity of 0.75% and a net margin of 1.31%. On average, equities analysts expect that Primis Financial Corp. will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

Primis Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th were given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 7th. Primis Financial’s payout ratio is presently 285.71%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Primis Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Primis Financial during the first quarter worth about $980,000. Curi RMB Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Primis Financial by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 893,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,730,000 after purchasing an additional 25,000 shares during the last quarter. Rhino Investment Partners Inc bought a new stake in shares of Primis Financial during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $6,818,000. Martingale Asset Management L P acquired a new position in Primis Financial during the 1st quarter worth approximately $325,000. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in Primis Financial in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $441,000. 74.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Primis Financial in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Primis Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Primis Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $1.00.

Primis Financial Company Profile

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.