First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) Sets New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after Stephens raised their price target on the stock from $53.00 to $57.00. Stephens currently has an overweight rating on the stock. First Bancorp traded as high as $51.58 and last traded at $51.01, with a volume of 93699 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $50.13.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on FBNC. Wall Street Zen raised First Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of First Bancorp from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of First Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.67.

Institutional Trading of First Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of First Bancorp by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 152,502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,706,000 after acquiring an additional 10,978 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in First Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $344,000. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in First Bancorp by 56.3% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 47,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,102,000 after purchasing an additional 17,230 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in First Bancorp by 43.1% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 149,661 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,581,000 after purchasing an additional 45,052 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in First Bancorp by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 828,369 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,423,000 after purchasing an additional 9,140 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

First Bancorp Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $43.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.08. The firm has a market cap of $2.11 billion, a PE ratio of 21.81 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.05. First Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.96% and a net margin of 17.65%. The company had revenue of $111.02 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $109.22 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that First Bancorp will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Bancorp Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 28th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. First Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.32%.

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.