First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) Upgraded to Hold by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Friday morning.

Separately, Hovde Group cut their price objective on shares of First Bancshares from $29.50 to $28.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $31.00.

First Bancshares Stock Performance

FBMS opened at $29.45 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $25.50 and its 200 day moving average is $25.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market cap of $919.40 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.69 and a beta of 0.93. First Bancshares has a 12-month low of $22.96 and a 12-month high of $32.06.

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $104.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $69.30 million. First Bancshares had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 20.00%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that First Bancshares will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 6th. First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.68%.

Institutional Trading of First Bancshares

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in First Bancshares during the second quarter valued at $322,000. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of First Bancshares by 3,387.8% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,709 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 1,660 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of First Bancshares in the 1st quarter valued at about $895,000. Algebris UK Ltd purchased a new position in First Bancshares in the first quarter worth about $3,492,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in First Bancshares by 80.2% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 17,555 shares of the bank’s stock worth $455,000 after acquiring an additional 7,815 shares during the last quarter. 69.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.