The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the four research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $35.50.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on FBMS shares. Janney Montgomery Scott cut shares of First Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Hovde Group raised their price objective on shares of First Bancshares from $29.00 to $32.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of First Bancshares in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “sell” rating on the stock.

First Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of First Bancshares stock opened at $37.65 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a PE ratio of 17.04 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50 day moving average of $33.64 and a 200 day moving average of $30.18. First Bancshares has a 52 week low of $22.96 and a 52 week high of $38.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. First Bancshares’s payout ratio is 45.25%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Bancshares

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of First Bancshares by 72.7% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 62,984 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,634,000 after buying an additional 26,514 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners purchased a new position in First Bancshares in the first quarter worth about $895,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of First Bancshares by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,626,074 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $42,197,000 after purchasing an additional 59,471 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of First Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $846,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of First Bancshares by 16.3% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 119,512 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,105,000 after purchasing an additional 16,723 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.