First Carolina Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:FCBM) Short Interest Up 101.0% in August

First Carolina Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:FCBM) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 14th, there was short interest totaling 62,061 shares, an increase of 101.0% from the July 30th total of 30,870 shares. Approximately 0.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 93,632 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.7 days.

Insider Transactions at First Carolina Financial Services

In related news, Director John Walter Gussenhoven acquired 16,000 shares of First Carolina Financial Services stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $12.50 per share, with a total value of $200,000.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 334,016 shares in the company, valued at $4,175,200. The trade was a 5.03% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John Jethro Ferebee, Jr. acquired 7,100 shares of First Carolina Financial Services stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $12.51 per share, with a total value of $88,821.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 7,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $88,821. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have acquired a total of 116,655 shares of company stock valued at $1,458,258 in the last 90 days.

First Carolina Financial Services Stock Performance

Shares of FCBM opened at $12.62 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.69. First Carolina Financial Services has a fifty-two week low of $12.17 and a fifty-two week high of $13.40.

First Carolina Financial Services (NYSE:FCBM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $32.26 million during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts expect that First Carolina Financial Services will post 0.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on FCBM shares. Zacks Research upgraded First Carolina Financial Services to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of First Carolina Financial Services to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 27th. Hovde Group started coverage on shares of First Carolina Financial Services in a research report on Friday, July 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $14.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of First Carolina Financial Services in a research report on Monday, July 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $15.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.50.

About First Carolina Financial Services

First Carolina Financial Service Inc operates as a bank holding company, through its subsidiaries, provides commercial and consumer banking, payment, finance and wealth management services. First Carolina Financial Service Inc is based in Raleigh, North Carolina.