First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA) Price Target Raised to $17.50

First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA) had its price objective lifted by Hovde Group from $17.00 to $17.50 in a report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the bank’s stock.

Separately, StockNews.com cut First Bank from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th.

First Bank Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FRBA opened at $13.89 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $14.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $271.83 million, a P/E ratio of 8.32 and a beta of 0.76. First Bank has a 12-month low of $11.20 and a 12-month high of $15.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $33.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.52 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.49 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that First Bank will post 1.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Bank Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. First Bank’s payout ratio is 14.37%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Bank

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. PL Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in First Bank by 1,307.0% during the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,737,940 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $94,803,000 after acquiring an additional 6,259,053 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in First Bank by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 890,825 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,534,000 after purchasing an additional 26,500 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in First Bank by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 890,493 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,529,000 after purchasing an additional 23,012 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of First Bank by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 469,214 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,133,000 after buying an additional 5,105 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of First Bank by 6.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 384,047 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,838,000 after buying an additional 22,452 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.