First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) Rating Lowered to “Neutral” at Janney Montgomery Scott

Janney Montgomery Scott cut shares of First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report report published on Friday, MarketBeat reports.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on FBNC. StockNews.com cut First Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on First Bancorp from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

First Bancorp Stock Down 4.3 %

First Bancorp stock opened at $43.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. First Bancorp has a one year low of $29.53 and a one year high of $50.34. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.89 and a beta of 1.04.

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.04. First Bancorp had a net margin of 14.19% and a return on equity of 8.04%. As a group, equities analysts expect that First Bancorp will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in First Bancorp by 47.6% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 15,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $661,000 after purchasing an additional 4,851 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of First Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $2,434,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $895,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in First Bancorp by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 507,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,306,000 after buying an additional 13,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in First Bancorp by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 367,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,150,000 after acquiring an additional 39,362 shares during the period. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

First Bancorp Company Profile

First Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for First Bank that provides banking products and services for individuals and small to medium-sized businesses. The company accepts deposit products, such as checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as time deposits, including certificate of deposits and individual retirement accounts.