First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) Earns Sell Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

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

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Hovde Group lifted their target price on First Bancshares from $29.00 to $32.50 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised First Bancshares from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and boosted their price target for the company from $31.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, First Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $35.50.

First Bancshares Stock Up 3.3 %

FBMS opened at $32.13 on Tuesday. First Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $22.96 and a fifty-two week high of $34.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a market capitalization of $1.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.75 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $31.17 and a 200-day moving average of $27.00.

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. First Bancshares had a return on equity of 8.82% and a net margin of 18.71%. The company had revenue of $104.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that First Bancshares will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 8th. First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.68%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in First Bancshares by 4.6% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 19,503 shares of the bank’s stock worth $499,000 after acquiring an additional 861 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in First Bancshares by 1.8% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 72,262 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,877,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in First Bancshares by 17.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,797 shares of the bank’s stock worth $229,000 after acquiring an additional 1,332 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in First Bancshares during the second quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, CWM LLC raised its stake in First Bancshares by 3,387.8% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,709 shares of the bank’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 1,660 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.95% of the company’s stock.

About First Bancshares

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.