Barclays PLC Grows Position in First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA)

Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 56,666 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,204 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in First Bank were worth $797,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FRBA. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of First Bank in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Bank in the 4th quarter worth about $98,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Bank by 26.7% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 9,419 shares of the bank’s stock worth $133,000 after purchasing an additional 1,982 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in shares of First Bank by 27.6% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 12,452 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 2,697 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P purchased a new stake in shares of First Bank during the 4th quarter worth about $186,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on FRBA shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of First Bank from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Hovde Group lifted their target price on shares of First Bank from $17.00 to $17.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th.

First Bank Stock Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ FRBA opened at $14.61 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. First Bank has a fifty-two week low of $11.20 and a fifty-two week high of $15.87. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $14.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.47. The stock has a market cap of $285.92 million, a PE ratio of 8.75 and a beta of 0.73.

First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.02). First Bank had a net margin of 18.41% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The firm had revenue of $33.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.52 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that First Bank will post 1.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Bank Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be given a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. First Bank’s payout ratio is 15.58%.

First Bank 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.