The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) Receives $31.00 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the four brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $31.00.

A number of research firms have commented on FBMS. StockNews.com cut shares of First Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Hovde Group reduced their price objective 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, May 6th.

First Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ:FBMS opened at $25.98 on Tuesday. First Bancshares has a 1-year low of $22.96 and a 1-year high of $32.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $811.07 million, a PE ratio of 10.31 and a beta of 0.92.

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The bank reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.05. First Bancshares had a net margin of 20.00% and a return on equity of 9.73%. The firm had revenue of $104.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $69.30 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that First Bancshares will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 6th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.85%. First Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 39.68%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Bancshares

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of First Bancshares by 3.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,626,074 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $42,197,000 after acquiring an additional 59,471 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in First Bancshares by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,115,691 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,724,000 after purchasing an additional 106,088 shares in the last quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp acquired a new position in First Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth about $12,681,000. Kennedy Capital Management LLC raised its stake in First Bancshares by 1.8% during the third quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 340,112 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,173,000 after acquiring an additional 6,011 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in First Bancshares by 4.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 224,195 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,047,000 after acquiring an additional 8,642 shares in the last quarter. 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.