First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Saturday.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of First Bancorp from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th.

First Bancorp Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of FBNC stock opened at $41.26 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.90 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business’s 50 day moving average is $39.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.86. First Bancorp has a twelve month low of $26.00 and a twelve month high of $45.41.

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $143.42 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.00 million. First Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.39% and a net margin of 20.17%. Equities analysts forecast that First Bancorp will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

First Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. First Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Bancorp news, Director Mason Y. Garrett sold 22,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.41, for a total transaction of $989,748.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 196,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,526,418.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Mason Y. Garrett sold 22,800 shares of First Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.41, for a total transaction of $989,748.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 196,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,526,418.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Clara Capel sold 1,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.05, for a total value of $30,500.75. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $347,648.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.65% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FBNC. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in First Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Bancorp by 17,233.3% in the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 1,551 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Bancorp in the first quarter valued at approximately $185,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Bancorp by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Novare Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $216,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

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.