HighTower Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 10,182 First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC)

HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 10,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $424,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of FBNC. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC acquired a new position in First Bancorp during the third quarter worth approximately $211,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in First Bancorp in the third quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Olympiad Research LP acquired a new stake in shares of First Bancorp in the third quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of First Bancorp during the third quarter worth approximately $240,000. 68.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Suzanne S. Deferie sold 2,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.77, for a total transaction of $89,115.72. Following the sale, the director now owns 65,618 shares in the company, valued at $2,872,099.86. This trade represents a 3.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 3.65% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on FBNC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of First Bancorp from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com cut First Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th.

First Bancorp Stock Up 2.6 %

FBNC opened at $44.69 on Friday. First Bancorp has a one year low of $29.53 and a one year high of $50.34. The company has a market cap of $1.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.02 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $45.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.83.

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.70. The business had revenue of $144.99 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $97.00 million. First Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.00% and a net margin of 17.98%. Analysts anticipate that First Bancorp will post 2.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, January 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. First Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.48%.

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.