FirstSun Capital Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSUN) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest surged 57.8% to 2.06 million shares as of September 30, representing 4.9% of FSUN’s outstanding stock and 4.3 days of average trading volume.
• Institutional ownership increased, led by Wellington Management’s 42.2% position expansion, while BlackRock, Empowered Funds, and Bank of America initiated new positions.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $45.25 target price; shares recently traded at $38.72 after rising 1.7%.

FirstSun Capital Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSUN - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totaling 2,060,243 shares, an increase of 57.8% from the September 15th total of 1,305,607 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 475,955 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.3 days. Currently, 4.9% of the company's stock are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of FirstSun Capital Bancorp by 42.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,097,274 shares of the company's stock worth $158,892,000 after acquiring an additional 1,216,889 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in FirstSun Capital Bancorp in the second quarter valued at approximately $73,455,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in FirstSun Capital Bancorp by 40.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 398,362 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,523,000 after purchasing an additional 114,339 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in FirstSun Capital Bancorp in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,847,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in FirstSun Capital Bancorp in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,999,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FSUN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of FirstSun Capital Bancorp from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of FirstSun Capital Bancorp in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen raised FirstSun Capital Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on FirstSun Capital Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded FirstSun Capital Bancorp from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $45.25.

FirstSun Capital Bancorp Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of FSUN traded up $0.67 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $38.72. The company had a trading volume of 37,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 251,660. FirstSun Capital Bancorp has a 1 year low of $29.95 and a 1 year high of $42.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.65 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $39.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.81.

FirstSun Capital Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSUN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $184.14 million for the quarter. FirstSun Capital Bancorp had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 7.16%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that FirstSun Capital Bancorp will post 3.33 EPS for the current year.

About FirstSun Capital Bancorp

FirstSun Capital Bancorp is a bank holding company whose principal subsidiary is Sunflower Bank, N.A. The company provides banking and financial services to businesses, agricultural producers, individuals and institutions through a network of branches and digital banking channels.

Its offerings include commercial and small-business lending, agricultural loans, residential and commercial real estate financing, consumer loans, deposit accounts, treasury management, online and mobile banking, and wealth management services.

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