First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) Now Covered by StockNews.com

Investment analysts at StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) in a note issued to investors on Saturday. The brokerage set a “sell” rating on the bank’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Hovde Group upped 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 three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.13.

First Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ:FBMS opened at $32.12 on Friday. First Bancshares has a 52 week low of $22.96 and a 52 week high of $34.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.87. The firm has a market cap of $1.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.75 and a beta of 0.93.

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $104.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.40 million. First Bancshares had a net margin of 18.71% and a return on equity of 8.90%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that First Bancshares will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of First Bancshares by 3.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,626,074 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $42,197,000 after acquiring an additional 59,471 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of First Bancshares by 7.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,404,491 shares of the bank’s stock worth $36,487,000 after acquiring an additional 91,314 shares during the last quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp bought a new stake in First Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $12,681,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in First Bancshares by 65.0% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 231,635 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,018,000 after purchasing an additional 91,269 shares during the period. Finally, Petiole USA ltd increased its position in First Bancshares by 19.3% during the 4th quarter. Petiole USA ltd now owns 202,145 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,929,000 after purchasing an additional 32,643 shares during the period. 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.