Short Interest in First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) Increases By 7.3%

First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC – Get Rating) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 5,000,000 shares, a growth of 7.3% from the February 13th total of 4,660,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,650,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.0 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FRC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James cut First Republic Bank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com initiated coverage on First Republic Bank in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded First Republic Bank from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 9th. Argus cut First Republic Bank from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded First Republic Bank from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $142.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, First Republic Bank has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.90.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FRC. Cottage Street Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of First Republic Bank by 9,479.6% in the fourth quarter. Cottage Street Advisors LLC now owns 2,045,621 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $565,000 after purchasing an additional 2,024,267 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of First Republic Bank by 110,317.4% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,920,158 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $234,048,000 after purchasing an additional 1,918,419 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in First Republic Bank during the fourth quarter worth $218,778,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in First Republic Bank by 236.2% during the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,127,253 shares of the bank’s stock worth $259,291,000 after acquiring an additional 1,494,508 shares during the period. Finally, CI Investments Inc. grew its holdings in First Republic Bank by 412.3% during the fourth quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 1,071,532 shares of the bank’s stock worth $130,609,000 after acquiring an additional 862,373 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.24% of the company’s stock.

First Republic Bank Stock Performance

NYSE FRC traded down $8.94 on Friday, reaching $25.33. The stock had a trading volume of 75,873,420 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,564,650. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.93. First Republic Bank has a 12-month low of $17.53 and a 12-month high of $174.21. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $121.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $125.93. The stock has a market cap of $4.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.15.

First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 13th. The bank reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.45 billion. First Republic Bank had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 24.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that First Republic Bank will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

First Republic Bank Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 26th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 25th. First Republic Bank’s payout ratio is currently 13.09%.

First Republic Bank Company Profile

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First Republic Bank engages in the provision of private banking, business banking, real estate lending, and wealth management, including trust and custody services. It operates through the Commercial Banking and Wealth Management segments. The Commercial Banking segment represents most of the operations, including real estate secured lending, retail deposit gathering, private banking activities, mortgage sales and servicing, and managing capital, liquidity, and interest rate risk.