First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) Now Covered by StockNews.com

Analysts at StockNews.com started coverage on shares of First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) in a report issued on Sunday. The brokerage set a “sell” rating on the bank’s stock.

FBMS has been the topic of a number of other reports. Hovde Group lifted their price target on shares of First Bancshares from $29.00 to $32.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $31.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.50.

First Bancshares Trading Down 4.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FBMS opened at $31.97 on Friday. First Bancshares has a 12-month low of $22.96 and a 12-month high of $34.40. The company has a market cap of $998.07 million, a PE ratio of 12.75 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $32.33 and a 200 day moving average of $28.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. First Bancshares had a return on equity of 8.82% and a net margin of 18.71%. The business had revenue of $104.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.40 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.85 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that First Bancshares will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Bancshares

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in shares of First Bancshares by 4.6% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 19,503 shares of the bank’s stock worth $499,000 after purchasing an additional 861 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Bancshares by 73.2% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,960 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 1,251 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in First Bancshares by 1.8% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 72,262 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,877,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in First Bancshares by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,797 shares of the bank’s stock worth $229,000 after acquiring an additional 1,332 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in First Bancshares during the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors 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.