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

Stock analysts at StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) in a report released on Friday. The brokerage set a “sell” rating on the bank’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Hovde Group increased their price target on First Bancshares from $29.00 to $32.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.50.

First Bancshares Trading Up 1.1 %

FBMS stock opened at $31.32 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $977.78 million, a PE ratio of 12.43 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $32.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. First Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $22.96 and a fifty-two week high of $34.40.

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. First Bancshares had a net margin of 18.71% and a return on equity of 8.82%. The business had revenue of $104.35 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.40 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that First Bancshares will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FBMS. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in First Bancshares during the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Bancshares by 3,387.8% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,709 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Bancshares during the second quarter valued at $89,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of First Bancshares in the first quarter worth about $103,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP increased its stake in First Bancshares by 652.7% in the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 7,474 shares of the bank’s stock worth $194,000 after buying an additional 6,481 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.95% of the company’s stock.

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.