The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) Receives $31.00 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the four research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $31.00.

FBMS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Hovde Group dropped their price target on shares of First Bancshares from $29.50 to $28.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of First Bancshares in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. TheStreet lowered First Bancshares from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of First Bancshares in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of First Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th.

First Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ FBMS opened at $25.23 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $24.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.85. First Bancshares has a 12-month low of $22.96 and a 12-month high of $32.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $787.63 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.01 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $104.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $69.30 million. First Bancshares had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 20.00%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.86 EPS. Research analysts expect that First Bancshares will post 2.53 EPS for the current year.

First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.68%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Bancshares

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of First Bancshares by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,530,263 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,271,000 after buying an additional 12,212 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of First Bancshares by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,115,691 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,724,000 after acquiring an additional 106,088 shares during the last quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP grew its position in First Bancshares by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 1,106,781 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,850,000 after purchasing an additional 8,945 shares during the last quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp acquired a new position in shares of First Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth approximately $12,681,000. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC increased its position in First Bancshares by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 340,112 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,173,000 after acquiring an additional 6,011 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.95% of the company’s stock.

About First Bancshares

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.