First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

Stock analysts at StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) in a report issued on Tuesday. The firm set a “sell” rating on the bank’s stock.

FBMS has been the topic of several other reports. Hovde Group lifted their target price 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 First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott lowered First Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, First Bancshares has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.50.

First Bancshares Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of FBMS stock opened at $32.79 on Tuesday. First Bancshares has a one year low of $22.96 and a one year high of $34.93. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $32.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.95. The stock has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.84 and a beta of 0.91.

Institutional Trading of First Bancshares

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FBMS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in First Bancshares by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,626,074 shares of the bank’s stock worth $42,197,000 after acquiring an additional 59,471 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of First Bancshares by 7.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,404,491 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $36,487,000 after buying an additional 91,314 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Bancshares by 65.0% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 231,635 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,018,000 after buying an additional 91,269 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of First Bancshares by 9.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 190,928 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,960,000 after buying an additional 16,777 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elizabeth Park Capital Advisors Ltd. acquired a new position in First Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth about $4,548,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.95% of the company’s stock.

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.