State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 1,161 Shares of The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its holdings in shares of The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 58,245 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,161 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned about 0.19% of First Bancshares worth $2,039,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FBMS. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Bancshares by 73.2% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,960 shares of the bank’s stock worth $95,000 after buying an additional 1,251 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in First Bancshares by 50.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,194 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $103,000 after purchasing an additional 1,076 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in First Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at $203,000. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in First Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at $236,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in First Bancshares in the 3rd quarter worth $308,000. Institutional investors own 69.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of First Bancshares in a research report on Monday, February 17th. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on First Bancshares from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Bancshares currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.75.

First Bancshares Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of FBMS stock opened at $36.06 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $36.13 and a 200-day moving average of $34.64. The stock has a market cap of $1.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.78 and a beta of 0.94. The First Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.96 and a 52-week high of $39.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84.

First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 40.98%.

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.