First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

Investment analysts at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) in a report released on Thursday. The brokerage set a “sell” rating on the bank’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on FBMS. Hovde Group boosted their target price on First Bancshares from $29.00 to $32.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.50.

First Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FBMS opened at $31.65 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $988.08 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.56 and a beta of 0.93. First Bancshares has a 1 year low of $22.96 and a 1 year high of $34.40. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.50.

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. First Bancshares had a net margin of 18.71% and a return on equity of 8.82%. The company had revenue of $104.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.40 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that First Bancshares will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FBMS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in First Bancshares by 3.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,626,074 shares of the bank’s stock worth $42,197,000 after buying an additional 59,471 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of First Bancshares by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,404,491 shares of the bank’s stock worth $36,487,000 after purchasing an additional 91,314 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in First Bancshares by 65.0% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Petiole USA ltd grew its stake in First Bancshares by 19.3% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in First Bancshares by 9.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 190,928 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,960,000 after purchasing an additional 16,777 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.