Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Boosts Holdings in First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its stake in shares of First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) by 28.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 83,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 18,543 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in First Bancorp were worth $3,490,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FBNC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of First Bancorp by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,789,188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $103,228,000 after acquiring an additional 52,812 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of First Bancorp by 82.3% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 19,915 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $719,000 after acquiring an additional 8,988 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Bancorp by 77.7% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,041,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,613,000 after acquiring an additional 455,406 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its holdings in shares of First Bancorp by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 35,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,300,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Bancorp by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 61,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,204,000 after acquiring an additional 4,550 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Suzanne S. Deferie sold 2,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.77, for a total transaction of $89,115.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 65,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,872,099.86. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Suzanne S. Deferie sold 2,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.77, for a total transaction of $89,115.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 65,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,872,099.86. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Suzanne S. Deferie sold 17,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.96, for a total transaction of $780,290.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 67,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,974,069.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.65% of the company’s stock.

First Bancorp Stock Performance

First Bancorp stock opened at $41.70 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a PE ratio of 15.05 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.90. First Bancorp has a twelve month low of $28.42 and a twelve month high of $45.41.

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.70. The business had revenue of $144.99 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $97.00 million. First Bancorp had a net margin of 20.17% and a return on equity of 8.39%. Research analysts expect that First Bancorp will post 2.72 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on FBNC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of First Bancorp from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of First Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th.

First Bancorp Profile

First Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for First Bank that provides banking products and services for individuals and small to medium-sized businesses. The company accepts deposit products, such as checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as time deposits, including certificate of deposits and individual retirement accounts.