First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) Declares $0.22 Quarterly Dividend

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, March 17th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.22 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, April 25th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st.

First Bancorp has a dividend payout ratio of 24.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect First Bancorp to earn $3.48 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 25.3%.

First Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of FBNC opened at $40.42 on Tuesday. First Bancorp has a twelve month low of $29.53 and a twelve month high of $50.34. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.97 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.04. First Bancorp had a net margin of 14.19% and a return on equity of 8.04%. Equities analysts forecast that First Bancorp will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on FBNC. Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded shares of First Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of First Bancorp from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

About First Bancorp

First Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for First Bank that provides banking products and services for individuals and small to medium-sized businesses. The company accepts deposit products, such as checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as time deposits, including certificate of deposits and individual retirement accounts.