First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday.

Separately, Hovde Group reduced their target price on First Bancshares from $29.50 to $28.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.00.

First Bancshares Trading Up 6.3 %

Shares of FBMS stock opened at $27.54 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $24.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.38. The company has a market cap of $859.80 million, a PE ratio of 10.93 and a beta of 0.93. First Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $22.96 and a fifty-two week high of $32.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $104.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $69.30 million. First Bancshares had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 20.00%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.86 EPS. Equities analysts predict that First Bancshares will post 2.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Bancshares

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Petiole USA ltd boosted its holdings in shares of First Bancshares by 19.3% during the 4th quarter. Petiole USA ltd now owns 202,145 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,929,000 after acquiring an additional 32,643 shares in the last quarter. Steele Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in First Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth $1,788,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in First Bancshares by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 74,679 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,190,000 after purchasing an additional 3,073 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in First Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth $87,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in First Bancshares by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,530,263 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,271,000 after purchasing an additional 12,212 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.95% of the company’s stock.

First Bancshares Company Profile

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.