BayFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:BAFN) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

BayFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:BAFN) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 8,800 shares, an increase of 83.3% from the June 15th total of 4,800 shares. Approximately 0.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 8,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.1 days.

Institutional Trading of BayFirst Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Banc Funds Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BayFirst Financial by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC now owns 138,752 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,810,000 after acquiring an additional 5,159 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC raised its position in BayFirst Financial by 28.1% in the 1st quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 35,425 shares of the company’s stock worth $459,000 after purchasing an additional 7,774 shares during the period. Finally, Graham Capital Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in BayFirst Financial in the 1st quarter worth $588,000. 16.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BayFirst Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ:BAFN remained flat at $12.94 during trading hours on Friday. 251 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,229. BayFirst Financial has a 1 year low of $8.88 and a 1 year high of $15.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market cap of $53.44 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.45 and a beta of 0.41. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $11.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.43.

BayFirst Financial (NASDAQ:BAFN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. BayFirst Financial had a net margin of 4.52% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The company had revenue of $23.01 million during the quarter.

BayFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 1st were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. BayFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.32%.

About BayFirst Financial

BayFirst Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for BayFirst National Bank that provides community banking services for businesses and individuals. The company offers checking, savings, NOW, and money market deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit and individual retirement account; and safety deposit boxes.