First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the six brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $56.6667.

Several research firms recently issued reports on FBNC. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of First Bancorp in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Stephens increased their price target on shares of First Bancorp from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Zacks Research lowered shares of First Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of First Bancorp from $53.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of First Bancorp from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Schroder Investment Management Group bought a new position in shares of First Bancorp during the second quarter valued at $17,999,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of First Bancorp by 32.1% during the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 587,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,884,000 after acquiring an additional 142,765 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of First Bancorp by 13.0% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 884,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,001,000 after acquiring an additional 101,529 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC bought a new position in shares of First Bancorp during the first quarter valued at $4,046,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in First Bancorp during the first quarter worth $3,846,000. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

First Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ FBNC opened at $52.31 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.35 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.59. First Bancorp has a 1 year low of $34.50 and a 1 year high of $56.45.

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $111.02 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.22 million. First Bancorp had a net margin of 17.65% and a return on equity of 8.96%. As a group, research analysts expect that First Bancorp will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, October 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This is a positive change from First Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. First Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 39.32%.

About First Bancorp

First Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for First Bank that provides banking products and services for individuals and small to medium-sized businesses. The company accepts deposit products, such as checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as time deposits, including certificate of deposits and individual retirement accounts.