The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) Shares Sold by Mendon Capital Advisors Corp

Mendon Capital Advisors Corp decreased its holdings in The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) by 97.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,495 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 327,505 shares during the quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp’s holdings in First Bancshares were worth $195,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FBMS. Petiole USA ltd grew its stake in shares of First Bancshares by 19.3% during the 4th quarter. Petiole USA ltd now owns 202,145 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,929,000 after purchasing an additional 32,643 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in First Bancshares by 72.7% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 62,984 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,634,000 after buying an additional 26,514 shares during the period. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in First Bancshares in the first quarter valued at about $463,000. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in shares of First Bancshares during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $895,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of First Bancshares by 3.8% during 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on FBMS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on First Bancshares in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Finally, Hovde Group raised their price target on First Bancshares from $29.00 to $32.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.50.

First Bancshares Stock Down 3.5 %

FBMS stock opened at $31.00 on Wednesday. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $967.79 million, a PE ratio of 12.30 and a beta of 0.93.

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $104.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that The First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 8th. First Bancshares’s payout ratio is 39.68%.

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.