MidWestOne Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MOFG) Short Interest Up 195.1% in December

MidWestOne Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MOFG - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 328,500 shares, a growth of 195.1% from the December 15th total of 111,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 111,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days.

MidWestOne Financial Group Trading Up 3.1 %

NASDAQ MOFG traded up $0.86 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $28.82. 92,528 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 98,078. The stock has a market cap of $598.74 million, a P/E ratio of -6.17 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.77. MidWestOne Financial Group has a one year low of $19.43 and a one year high of $34.56. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.82.

MidWestOne Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.243 per share. This represents a $0.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. MidWestOne Financial Group's payout ratio is -20.77%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Apella Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of MidWestOne Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth $268,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of MidWestOne Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $1,776,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of MidWestOne Financial Group by 54.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 43,430 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,239,000 after acquiring an additional 15,351 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new position in MidWestOne Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,116,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in MidWestOne Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $261,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.42% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on MOFG. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of MidWestOne Financial Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $34.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of MidWestOne Financial Group from $33.00 to $31.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded MidWestOne Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, October 28th.

MidWestOne Financial Group Company Profile

MidWestOne Financial Group, Inc operates as the bank holding company for MidWestOne Bank that provides commercial and retail banking products and services to individuals, businesses, governmental units, and institutional customers. It offers range of deposit products, including noninterest bearing and interest bearing demand deposits, savings, money market, and time deposits accounts.

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