Colony Bankcorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBAN) Short Interest Up 8.3% in December

Colony Bankcorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBAN) was the target of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 91,300 shares, a growth of 8.3% from the December 15th total of 84,300 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 36,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Colony Bankcorp

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CBAN. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Colony Bankcorp by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 46,458 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $721,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Colony Bankcorp by 5.2% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 35,478 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $551,000 after purchasing an additional 1,742 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Colony Bankcorp by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 95,078 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,165,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Colony Bankcorp during the 4th quarter valued at $113,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Colony Bankcorp by 15.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 58,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $711,000 after buying an additional 7,726 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 50.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Colony Bankcorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th.

Colony Bankcorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CBAN traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $15.78. 102,355 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 34,756. The stock has a market capitalization of $276.54 million, a P/E ratio of 12.62 and a beta of 0.62. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Colony Bankcorp has a 52 week low of $10.33 and a 52 week high of $18.49.

Colony Bankcorp (NASDAQ:CBAN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.01. Colony Bankcorp had a net margin of 12.75% and a return on equity of 8.86%. The company had revenue of $44.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $28.67 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.34 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Colony Bankcorp will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Colony Bankcorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were given a dividend of $0.112 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.45 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. Colony Bankcorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.00%.

About Colony Bankcorp

Colony Bankcorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Colony Bank that provides various banking products and services to commercial and consumer customers. The company offers deposit products, including demand, savings, and time deposits. It also provides loans to small and medium-sized businesses; residential and commercial construction, and land development loans; commercial real estate loans; commercial loans; agri-business and production loans; residential mortgage loans; home equity loans; and consumer loans.