First Financial Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIN) Short Interest Up 5.4% in March

First Financial Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIN - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,500,000 shares, an increase of 5.4% from the February 29th total of 9,010,000 shares. Approximately 6.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 507,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 18.7 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on FFIN shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of First Financial Bankshares from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of First Financial Bankshares from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of First Financial Bankshares from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, First Financial Bankshares presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $30.75.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Financial Bankshares

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of First Financial Bankshares by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 8,691 shares of the bank's stock valued at $299,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of First Financial Bankshares by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 24,927 shares of the bank's stock valued at $755,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of First Financial Bankshares by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 8,114 shares of the bank's stock valued at $319,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in First Financial Bankshares by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 160,861 shares of the bank's stock worth $4,874,000 after buying an additional 455 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC increased its stake in First Financial Bankshares by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 17,232 shares of the bank's stock worth $522,000 after buying an additional 461 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.78% of the company's stock.

First Financial Bankshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ FFIN traded down $0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $31.44. 297,315 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 514,991. First Financial Bankshares has a 1-year low of $22.84 and a 1-year high of $33.15. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $31.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.49 billion, a PE ratio of 22.33 and a beta of 0.82.

First Financial Bankshares (NASDAQ:FFIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.02). First Financial Bankshares had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 31.28%. The firm had revenue of $119.49 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $125.09 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.41 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that First Financial Bankshares will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Bankshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. First Financial Bankshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.43%.

First Financial Bankshares Company Profile

First Financial Bankshares, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides commercial banking products and services in Texas. The company offers checking, savings and time deposits; automated teller machines, drive-in, and night deposit services; safe deposit facilities, remote deposit capture, internet banking, mobile banking, payroll cards, funds transfer, and performing other customary commercial banking services; securities brokerage services; and trust and wealth management services, including wealth management, estates administration, oil and gas management, testamentary trusts, revocable and irrevocable trusts, and agency accounts.