Verition Fund Management LLC Buys Shares of 7,335 The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS)

Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 7,335 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in First Bancshares by 1,454.0% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 619,730 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,912,000 after buying an additional 579,851 shares during the last quarter. Elizabeth Park Capital Advisors Ltd. bought a new position in First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth $4,548,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in First Bancshares by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,404,491 shares of the bank’s stock worth $36,487,000 after purchasing an additional 91,314 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in First Bancshares by 65.0% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 231,635 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,018,000 after purchasing an additional 91,269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning raised its holdings in First Bancshares by 310.0% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 91,591 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,380,000 after purchasing an additional 69,254 shares in the last quarter. 69.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FBMS has been the subject of several research reports. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered shares of First Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of First Bancshares in a research report on Sunday. They issued a “sell” rating on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of First Bancshares from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Bancshares presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.17.

First Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FBMS opened at $36.17 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $35.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.41. The First Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.96 and a 52-week high of $39.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of 16.37 and a beta of 0.93.

First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. First Bancshares’s payout ratio is 45.25%.

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.