First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) Earns Sell Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) in a research report released on Sunday morning. The brokerage issued a sell rating on the bank’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded 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 raised their price target on shares of First Bancshares from $29.00 to $32.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.50.

First Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FBMS opened at $32.32 on Friday. First Bancshares has a twelve month low of $22.96 and a twelve month high of $34.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.80 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.34.

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $104.35 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.40 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that First Bancshares will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of First Bancshares

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in First Bancshares by 3,387.8% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,709 shares of the bank’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in First Bancshares during the second quarter valued at $89,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Bancshares during the first quarter worth $103,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in shares of First Bancshares by 652.7% during the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 7,474 shares of the bank’s stock worth $194,000 after purchasing an additional 6,481 shares during the period. 69.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.