GSA Capital Partners LLP Has $637,000 Holdings in The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS)

GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its position in shares of The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) by 47.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 24,549 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,846 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP’s holdings in First Bancshares were worth $637,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in shares of First Bancshares by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 30,144 shares of the bank’s stock worth $884,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of First Bancshares by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 14,102 shares of the bank’s stock worth $414,000 after purchasing an additional 714 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of First Bancshares by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 14,370 shares of the bank’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 2,167 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth approximately $87,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of First Bancshares by 4.3% during the fourth 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 period. 69.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FBMS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Hovde Group decreased their price target on First Bancshares from $29.50 to $28.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. StockNews.com upgraded First Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.00.

First Bancshares Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of First Bancshares stock opened at $27.63 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.34. The First Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $22.96 and a 12-month high of $32.06. The company has a market capitalization of $862.58 million, a P/E ratio of 10.96 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 9.73% and a net margin of 20.00%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.86 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 6th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.62%. First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.68%.

First Bancshares 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.