First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) in a report published on Saturday morning. The brokerage issued a sell rating on the bank’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on FBMS. Hovde Group upped their target price on First Bancshares from $29.00 to $32.50 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised First Bancshares from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and upped their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $35.13.

First Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ:FBMS opened at $32.31 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.82 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $28.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.92. First Bancshares has a one year low of $22.96 and a one year high of $34.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $104.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.40 million. First Bancshares had a net margin of 18.71% and a return on equity of 8.90%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. Equities analysts expect that First Bancshares will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 8th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. First Bancshares’s payout ratio is 39.68%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Bancshares

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in First Bancshares by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,626,074 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $42,197,000 after acquiring an additional 59,471 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of First Bancshares by 7.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,404,491 shares of the bank’s stock worth $36,487,000 after purchasing an additional 91,314 shares during the period. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp bought a new position in shares of First Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth $12,681,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in First Bancshares by 65.0% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 231,635 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,018,000 after purchasing an additional 91,269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Petiole USA ltd lifted its position in First Bancshares by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. Petiole USA ltd now owns 202,145 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,929,000 after purchasing an additional 32,643 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.95% of the company’s stock.

First Bancshares Company Profile

The First Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for The First Bank that provides general commercial and retail banking services. The company operates through three segments: Commercial/Retail Bank, Mortgage Banking Division, and Holding Company. It offers deposit services, including checking, NOW, and savings accounts; other time deposits, such as daily money market accounts and longer-term certificates of deposit; and individual retirement and health savings accounts.