The First Bancshares, Inc. (FBMS) To Go Ex-Dividend on November 8th

The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 23rd, NASDAQ reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the bank on Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th.

First Bancshares has increased its dividend by an average of 28.9% per year over the last three years.

First Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of FBMS opened at $33.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of 13.19 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $32.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. First Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $22.96 and a fifty-two week high of $34.40.

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.02. First Bancshares had a return on equity of 8.82% and a net margin of 18.71%. The firm had revenue of $104.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. Equities analysts predict that First Bancshares will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FBMS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded shares of First Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of First Bancshares in a research report on Sunday, October 20th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. Finally, Hovde Group boosted their price objective on shares of First Bancshares from $29.00 to $32.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.50.

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.