First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning. The brokerage issued a sell rating on the bank’s stock.

FBMS has been the subject of several other reports. Hovde Group increased 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 upgraded shares of First Bancshares from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and raised 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 assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $35.50.

First Bancshares Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of First Bancshares stock opened at $32.77 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $31.46 and its 200 day moving average is $27.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a PE ratio of 13.00 and a beta of 0.93. First Bancshares has a 1 year low of $22.96 and a 1 year high of $34.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

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 net margin of 18.71% and a return on equity of 8.82%. The firm had revenue of $104.35 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.40 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that First Bancshares will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 8th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.05%. First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.68%.

Institutional Trading of First Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of First Bancshares by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 19,503 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $499,000 after purchasing an additional 861 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in First Bancshares by 1.8% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 72,262 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,877,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position 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 valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 1,332 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in First Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in shares of First Bancshares by 3,387.8% in the 2nd 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.

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.