State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Cuts Position in The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lessened its position in shares of The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) by 32.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 78,072 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 37,378 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned about 0.25% of First Bancshares worth $2,028,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Algebris UK Ltd acquired a new position in shares of First Bancshares during the first quarter worth $3,492,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of First Bancshares by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,115,691 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,724,000 after acquiring an additional 106,088 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of First Bancshares by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,626,074 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $42,197,000 after acquiring an additional 59,471 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in shares of First Bancshares during the 1st quarter worth about $895,000. Finally, Petiole USA ltd boosted its holdings in First Bancshares by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. Petiole USA ltd now owns 202,145 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,929,000 after purchasing an additional 32,643 shares in the last quarter. 69.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Bancshares Stock Down 3.5 %

FBMS stock opened at $32.80 on Friday. The First Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $22.96 and a 12 month high of $34.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.02 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $31.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.23.

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.02. First Bancshares had a return on equity of 8.82% and a net margin of 18.71%. The firm had revenue of $104.35 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.40 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that The First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 8th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Hovde Group upped their price objective on shares of First Bancshares from $29.00 to $32.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on First Bancshares in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.50.

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.