First Bank’s (FRBA) Overweight Rating Reiterated at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler reissued their overweight rating on shares of First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $17.00 target price on the bank’s stock, down from their prior target price of $18.00.

Separately, StockNews.com cut First Bank from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th.

First Bank Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of FRBA opened at $14.00 on Wednesday. First Bank has a fifty-two week low of $11.20 and a fifty-two week high of $15.87. The company’s fifty day moving average is $14.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.67. The firm has a market cap of $273.97 million, a PE ratio of 8.81 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.06). First Bank had a return on equity of 11.80% and a net margin of 18.19%. The firm had revenue of $58.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.96 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that First Bank will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

First Bank Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.71%. First Bank’s payout ratio is 15.09%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Inspire Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Bank during the 3rd quarter valued at about $827,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in First Bank by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,208,998 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,612,000 after acquiring an additional 7,413 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of First Bank by 4.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 834,690 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,633,000 after purchasing an additional 38,256 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Bank during the second quarter worth $71,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of First Bank in the first quarter valued at $283,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.86% of the company’s stock.

First Bank Company Profile

First Bank provides various banking products and services to small to mid-sized businesses and individuals. The company accepts various deposits, including non-interest-bearing demand deposits, interest bearing demand accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit, as well as commercial checking accounts.