The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.25

The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 23rd, NASDAQ reports. Investors 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 dividend 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% annually over the last three years.

First Bancshares Trading Down 1.7 %

FBMS stock traded down $0.56 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $33.23. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 141,664 shares, compared to its average volume of 195,918. First Bancshares has a 12 month low of $22.96 and a 12 month high of $34.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $32.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.43. The company has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.41 and a beta of 0.92.

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. First Bancshares had a return on equity of 8.82% and a net margin of 18.71%. The business 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. On average, equities research analysts predict that First Bancshares will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FBMS has been the topic of several research reports. Hovde Group upped their price objective on shares of First Bancshares from $29.00 to $32.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Janney Montgomery Scott cut shares of First Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com initiated coverage on First Bancshares in a research note on Sunday. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $31.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Bancshares 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.