SB Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBFG) Short Interest Update

SB Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBFG - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 130,800 shares, a growth of 3,342.1% from the December 15th total of 3,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 20,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.4 days. Currently, 2.2% of the company's shares are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SBFG. Barclays PLC grew its stake in SB Financial Group by 325.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,271 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 972 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of SB Financial Group by 3.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 71,076 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,462,000 after buying an additional 2,416 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of SB Financial Group by 5.2% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 37,762 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $776,000 after buying an additional 1,876 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.67% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of SB Financial Group in a research note on Saturday, September 21st. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock.

SB Financial Group Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of SBFG stock traded down $0.69 on Monday, hitting $19.57. The stock had a trading volume of 7,012 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,730. The company's 50 day moving average price is $20.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.45. SB Financial Group has a 1 year low of $13.01 and a 1 year high of $23.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $130.18 million, a P/E ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

SB Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.145 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This is a positive change from SB Financial Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. This represents a $0.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. SB Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is 33.33%.

SB Financial Group Company Profile

SB Financial Group, Inc operates as the financial holding company for the State Bank and Trust Company that provides a range of commercial banking and wealth management services to individual and corporate customers primarily in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. It offers checking, savings, money market accounts, as well as time certificates of deposit; and commercial, consumer, agricultural, and residential mortgage loans.