First Bancorp Short Interest Ratio and Short Volume

Short interest is the volume of First Bancorp shares that have been sold short but have not yet been closed out or covered. As of March 31st, investors have sold 982,600 shares of FBNC short. 3.53% of First Bancorp's shares are currently sold short. View details.

The short interest ratio, also known as the "days to cover ratio", is calculated by dividing the number of shares of a stock sold short divided by its average trading volume. A short interest ratio ranging between 1 and 4 generally indicates strong positive sentiment about a stock and a lack of short sellers. A short interest ratio of 10 or greater indicates strong pessimism about a stock. First Bancorp currently has a short interest ratio of 8.0.

Companies that have a short interest as a percentage of float below 10% indicates positive investor sentiment and few short sellers. Stocks with a short interest percentage above 10% is considered high, suggesting some investors are pessimistic about the stock. Companies with a short interest percentage of 20% or more indicates widespread negative sentiment. 3.53% of First Bancorp's floating shares are currently sold short.

First Bancorp saw a decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 982,600 shares, a decline of 0.7% from the previous total of 989,900 shares. Changes in short volume can be used to identify positive and negative investor sentiment. Investors that short sell a stock are betting that its price will decline in the future. An increase in short sale volume suggests bearish (negative) sentiment among investors. A decrease on short sale volume suggests bullish (positive) sentiment.

First Bancorp currently has issued a total of 28,475,000 shares. Some of First Bancorp's outstanding shares are available for trading, while others are subject to various restrictions. The public float, also referred to as floating shares or "the float", are shares that publicly owned, unrestricted and available to trade on the open market. First Bancorp currently has a public float of 27,820,000 shares.

3.53% of First Bancorp's shares are currently sold short. Here is how the short interest of companies in the sub-industry of "regional banks" compare to First Bancorp: Truist Financial Co. (0.80%), The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (1.48%), First Republic Bank (0.00%), SVB Financial Group (0.00%), Fifth Third Bancorp (1.31%), Regions Financial Co. (1.97%), M&T Bank Co. (2.31%), KeyCorp (1.25%), Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (3.85%), and Signature Bank (0.00%).

As of the most recent reporting period, the following stocks had the largest short interest positions: Analog Devices, Inc. ($5.84 billion), Aon plc ($5.47 billion), Charter Communications, Inc. ($5.36 billion), ViacomCBS Inc. ($3.99 billion), Snap Inc. ($3.77 billion), Airbnb, Inc. ($2.90 billion), Peloton Interactive, Inc. ($2.43 billion), Discovery, Inc. ($2.38 billion), The Kroger Co. ($2.28 billion), and Expedia Group, Inc. ($2.18 billion). View all of the most shorted stocks.

Short selling FBNC is an investing strategy that aims to generate trading profit from First Bancorp as its price is falling. First Bancorp's stock is trading down $0.87 today. To short First Bancorp stock, an investor borrows shares, sells them and buys the shares back on the public market later to return it to the lender. Short sellers are betting that First Bancorp will decline in price. If the stock does drop after selling, the short seller buys it back at a lower price and returns it to the lender. The difference between the sell price and the buy price is the trader's profit.

A short squeeze for First Bancorp occurs when it has a large amount of short interest and its stock appreciates in price. This forces short sellers to cover their short interest positions by buying actual shares of FBNC, which in turn drives the price of the stock up even further.

Short interest is typically published by a stock exchange once per month. However, NASDAQ publishes a report for U.S. stocks, including FBNC, twice per month. The most recent reporting period available is March, 31 2021.