First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The bank reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02, Zacks reports. First Bancshares had a net margin of 20.00% and a return on equity of 9.73%. The company had revenue of $104.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.40 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS.

First Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ:FBMS traded up $0.67 on Thursday, hitting $30.26. The company had a trading volume of 304,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 161,312. The stock has a market capitalization of $944.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.01 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. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $25.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.39. First Bancshares has a 52 week low of $22.96 and a 52 week high of $32.06.

First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 8th. First Bancshares’s payout ratio is 39.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Hovde Group cut their price target on shares of 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 raised shares of First Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, First Bancshares has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.00.

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.