First Mid Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMBH) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of First Mid Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMBH) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $49.50.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on FMBH shares. DA Davidson lifted their price target on First Mid Bancshares from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Mid Bancshares in a report on Friday, May 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on First Mid Bancshares from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of First Mid Bancshares in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price target (up from $52.00) on shares of First Mid Bancshares in a report on Friday, May 1st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Mid Bancshares

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FMBH. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Mid Bancshares by 256.9% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 105,648 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,687,000 after buying an additional 76,050 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in First Mid Bancshares by 63.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 161,024 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,100,000 after purchasing an additional 62,404 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL lifted its holdings in First Mid Bancshares by 421.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 71,260 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,699,000 after purchasing an additional 57,600 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in First Mid Bancshares by 43.7% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 188,473 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,350,000 after purchasing an additional 57,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in First Mid Bancshares by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,101,095 shares of the bank’s stock worth $45,354,000 after purchasing an additional 56,997 shares during the last quarter. 47.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Mid Bancshares Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ:FMBH opened at $48.09 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. First Mid Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $34.15 and a fifty-two week high of $49.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $44.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.56. The stock has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a PE ratio of 12.11 and a beta of 0.80.

First Mid Bancshares (NASDAQ:FMBH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The bank reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.19. First Mid Bancshares had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 19.95%.The company had revenue of $98.54 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $96.45 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that First Mid Bancshares will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Mid Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. First Mid Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 25.19%.

About First Mid Bancshares

First Mid Bancshares, Inc (NASDAQ: FMBH), headquartered in Mattoon, Illinois, is a financial services holding company that offers a comprehensive suite of banking products and services through its main subsidiary, First Mid Bank & Trust. The company’s primary business activities include commercial and retail banking, mortgage origination and servicing, wealth management and trust administration, as well as treasury and cash management solutions.

Through its branch network, First Mid provides consumer deposit products such as checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit and online banking services.