Royce & Associates LP Has $2.81 Million Stock Holdings in The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS)

Royce & Associates LP reduced its holdings in shares of The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) by 89.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 87,309 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 737,576 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned about 0.28% of First Bancshares worth $2,805,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in FBMS. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in First Bancshares during the third quarter worth about $203,000. Versor Investments LP bought a new position in shares of First Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,666,000. Wolverine Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in First Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,054,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in First Bancshares in the third quarter valued at $846,000. Finally, Olympiad Research LP acquired a new position in First Bancshares during the third quarter worth $997,000. Institutional investors own 69.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on FBMS shares. Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded shares of First Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Hovde Group boosted their price target on shares of First Bancshares from $29.00 to $32.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of First Bancshares in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. 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 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ FBMS opened at $36.20 on Tuesday. The First Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.96 and a 1-year high of $38.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a 50-day moving average of $33.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.85. The company has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of 16.38 and a beta of 0.91.

First Bancshares Announces Dividend

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

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.