The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) Shares Sold by Creative Planning

Creative Planning trimmed its position in The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) by 11.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 81,534 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 10,057 shares during the period. Creative Planning’s holdings in First Bancshares were worth $2,620,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Bancshares in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. CWM LLC grew its stake in 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 during the period. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at $89,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in First Bancshares in the 1st quarter valued at $103,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its stake in shares of First Bancshares by 652.7% during the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 7,474 shares of the bank’s stock worth $194,000 after purchasing an additional 6,481 shares during the period. 69.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FBMS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on First Bancshares in a report on Sunday, October 20th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded shares of First Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Hovde Group raised their target price on shares of First Bancshares from $29.00 to $32.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.50.

First Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of FBMS stock opened at $32.99 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a PE ratio of 13.80 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.55. The First Bancshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $22.96 and a 52 week high of $34.40.

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $104.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.40 million. First Bancshares had a return on equity of 8.82% and a net margin of 18.71%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.84%.

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.