Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) by 25.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,641 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 910 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in First Bancorp were worth $107,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in First Bancorp by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,293,843 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $100,862,000 after purchasing an additional 77,074 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Bancorp by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,202,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,864,000 after acquiring an additional 418,752 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of First Bancorp by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 828,369 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,423,000 after acquiring an additional 9,140 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of First Bancorp by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 797,316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,058,000 after acquiring an additional 18,749 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Bancorp by 372.1% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 742,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,654,000 after acquiring an additional 585,338 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FBNC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of First Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Stephens increased their price target on shares of First Bancorp from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of First Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of First Bancorp from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, First Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.33.

First Bancorp Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ FBNC opened at $40.70 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.11. First Bancorp has a 52-week low of $29.53 and a 52-week high of $50.34. The firm has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.12 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.06. First Bancorp had a net margin of 14.19% and a return on equity of 8.04%. The business had revenue of $105.79 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $105.81 million. Equities analysts predict that First Bancorp will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Bancorp Company Profile

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.