Arizona State Retirement System Buys Shares of 8,305 The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS)

Arizona State Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 8,305 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in First Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of 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 during the period. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at $87,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in First Bancshares in the first quarter valued at $103,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP grew its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.95% of the company’s stock.

First Bancshares Trading Up 0.3 %

FBMS opened at $32.77 on Thursday. 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 First Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $22.96 and a one year high of $34.40. The company has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.00 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.15.

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

First Bancshares Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FBMS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $31.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of First Bancshares in a report on Wednesday. They issued a “sell” rating on the stock. Finally, Hovde Group boosted their price target on shares of First Bancshares from $29.00 to $32.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.50.

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.