Jennison Associates LLC Purchases 73,508 Shares of First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC)

Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) by 14.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 585,926 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 73,508 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 1.43% of First Bancorp worth $21,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in First Bancorp by 3,504.0% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 3,539 shares during the period. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in First Bancorp in the third quarter worth about $184,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of First Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at about $213,000. Resources Management Corp CT ADV grew its position in shares of First Bancorp by 57.1% in the 3rd quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 7,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $217,000 after buying an additional 2,799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wagner Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of First Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $240,000. 68.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of First Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday.

First Bancorp Trading Down 8.6 %

First Bancorp stock opened at $31.55 on Friday. First Bancorp has a one year low of $26.00 and a one year high of $38.51. The stock has a market cap of $1.30 billion, a PE ratio of 11.39 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $34.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.40.

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.06. First Bancorp had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 8.73%. The company had revenue of $97.03 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.63 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that First Bancorp will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. First Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.77%.

First Bancorp Profile

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.