Rhumbline Advisers Acquires 2,904 Shares of The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS)

Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 48,372 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 2,904 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.15% of First Bancshares worth $1,257,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of FBMS. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of First Bancshares by 3,387.8% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,709 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at about $87,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Bancshares during the 1st quarter valued at about $103,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP increased its position in shares of First Bancshares by 652.7% during the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 7,474 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $194,000 after purchasing an additional 6,481 shares during the last quarter. 69.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

First Bancshares Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of FBMS opened at $32.77 on Friday. 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 First Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.96 and a 1 year high of $34.40. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.30. The firm has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.00 and a beta of 0.93.

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $104.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.40 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that The First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Bancshares Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on FBMS. Hovde Group upped their price target on shares of First Bancshares from $29.00 to $32.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of First Bancshares in a report on Wednesday. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.50.

First Bancshares Company 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.