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

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) in a report issued on Friday morning. The brokerage issued a sell rating on the bank’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on FBMS. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered shares of First Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, First Bancshares has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.50.

First Bancshares Trading Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ FBMS opened at $37.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.81 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $34.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.57. First Bancshares has a 12 month low of $22.96 and a 12 month high of $39.08.

First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.25%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Bancshares

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of First Bancshares by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,626,074 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $42,197,000 after purchasing an additional 59,471 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in First Bancshares by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,797 shares of the bank’s stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 1,332 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in First Bancshares by 80.2% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 17,555 shares of the bank’s stock worth $455,000 after buying an additional 7,815 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners acquired a new position in shares of First Bancshares during the 1st quarter worth about $895,000. Finally, CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of First Bancshares by 3,387.8% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,709 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 1,660 shares during the last quarter. 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.