The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the three brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $35.50.

FBMS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded First Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Hovde Group increased their target price on shares of First Bancshares from $29.00 to $32.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of First Bancshares in a report on Sunday. They issued a “sell” rating for the company.

First Bancshares Stock Up 4.4 %

NASDAQ:FBMS opened at $33.79 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.41 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $32.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.43. First Bancshares has a 52-week low of $22.96 and a 52-week high of $34.40.

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $104.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.40 million. First Bancshares had a net margin of 18.71% and a return on equity of 8.82%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that First Bancshares will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in First Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. CWM LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $44,000 after buying an additional 1,660 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $89,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in First Bancshares in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $103,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its position in First Bancshares by 652.7% during the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 7,474 shares of the bank’s stock worth $194,000 after acquiring an additional 6,481 shares during the last quarter. 69.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.