Insider Buying: Primis Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:FRST) Director Purchases 1,900 Shares of Stock

Primis Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:FRST – Get Rating) Director F L. Garrett III bought 1,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $10.22 per share, for a total transaction of $19,418.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 28,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $289,389.52. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Primis Financial Trading Down 7.5 %

NASDAQ FRST opened at $9.47 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Primis Financial Corp. has a 12 month low of $9.35 and a 12 month high of $14.97. The stock has a market cap of $233.53 million, a P/E ratio of 13.34 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $11.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.20.

Primis Financial (NASDAQ:FRST – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 26th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.26). Primis Financial had a net margin of 12.04% and a return on equity of 4.21%. The business had revenue of $40.57 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.94 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Primis Financial Corp. will post 1.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Primis Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 24th. Investors of record on Friday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 9th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.22%. Primis Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.34%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Primis Financial

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FRST. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Primis Financial by 28.8% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 89,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,254,000 after buying an additional 20,032 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Primis Financial by 54.8% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 13,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $184,000 after acquiring an additional 4,656 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Primis Financial by 2.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,029,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,393,000 after acquiring an additional 26,515 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Primis Financial by 12.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,016,838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,215,000 after acquiring an additional 112,657 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Primis Financial by 9.8% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 12,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $175,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114 shares during the period. 71.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Piper Sandler raised Primis Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $13.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st.

About Primis Financial

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Primis Financial Corp. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of financial services through its subsidiary Sonabank. The firm focuses on making loans secured primarily by commercial real estate and other types of secured and unsecured commercial loans to small and medium-sized businesses in a number of industries, as well as loans to individuals for a variety of purposes.